


A Star Danced

by infinitestarsintheskye



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, I think i just like putting Fitz in uniform..., I wrote this because i am a big shakespeare hoe, Implied/Referenced Sexual Content, It gets angsty before it gets better, Masquerade Ball, Much Ado About Nothing AU, Navy Fitz, Slow Burn, mention of head injury, mentions of hypoxia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24311779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infinitestarsintheskye/pseuds/infinitestarsintheskye
Summary: Dr Jemma Simmons and Dr Leopold Fitz hate each other. Ten years ago a fight made them go their separate ways, breaking both hearts in the process, but now they find themselves working in the same lab. Will their hatred for each other flourish, or will they realise, with a little help from their friends, that the line between love and hate is very thin?A Much Ado About Nothing AUUpdates every Thursday!
Relationships: Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Lincoln Campbell/Skye | Daisy Johnson
Comments: 37
Kudos: 69





	1. Prologue - I Know You of Old

**Author's Note:**

> It’s the Much Ado AU I promised back in like November! Hello everyone I know I have been rather quiet since December, but finishing your degree whilst contending with the new crazy world we live in thanks to Coronavirus, is really enough to keep anyone busy. I love much ado, and I love FitzSimmons and I now have a lot of time on my hands to write this sucker so it all made sense to do this now! Please enjoy, accept my apologies again for the rather prolonged hiatus and all that jazz

The music thrummed through every wall in the house, vibrating in the bones of the groups of teenagers scattered about, lounging on chairs, collapsed on the staircase, and tucked away in every corner. Jemma Simmons watched lazily as her classmates danced before her, the music thudding in her ears, the figures before her becoming blurs in front of her not so sober eyes. She suddenly remembered the warmth behind her, and looked up to see her best friend Fitz, gazing down at her.

“DO YOU WANNA GO?” He yelled to her over the deafening thud of the music.

Jemma nodded and yanked them both up from the cushy couch they had found themselves on. It wasn’t a long walk home, five minutes at most. That was one of the perks of living in a small town, they had free reign of the place. Jemma kicked her heels off and they walked hand in hand, mostly to keep each other upright, down the middle of the abandoned road, Jemma wincing every now and again as they hit a particularly rough piece of tarmac. They giggled as they zigzag-ed their way up the road to Jemma’s house, stumbling drunkenly, illuminated only by the yellow glow of the streetlamps. Fitz pulled them to a stop when they reached Jemma’s driveway, catching her as she fell forward into his arms, her shoes still dangling from her hand.

“Do you want to stay? My parents went away for the weekend and I know your house is only the next street, but I don’t trust you to get there safely in this state.” Jemma mumbled into his shoulder.

Fitz considered her proposition for a moment. He’d stayed over before, a lot more recently, staying up late and studying for exams together until they both fell asleep on Jemma’s bedroom floor. But he’d never stayed whilst they were both this drunk. He cocked his head slightly, testing his sobriety, and felt his entire head swimming. Jemma was probably right, he could barely walk in a straight line, never mind make it back down this hill and into the house without waking his mum. He nodded, his head feeling like it was floating away from his shoulders as he did so, and Jemma grabbed his hand again, and began fumbling in her bag for her keys. The stairs were a challenge, both of them held tightly to the bannister as the world spun around them. Finally, they made it upstairs and into Jemma’s room and collapsed onto her bed.

“Can you believe it?” Jemma mumbled into her pillow, looking at Fitz who had slumped down next to her.

“Believe what?” He murmured, looking at her eyes, which he realised were now overwhelmingly close to his.

“That high school is over. We survived.” Jemma replied with a deeply dramatic sigh.

“What I cannot believe is that we got this drunk. Why did we let Milton, MILTON, talk us into multiple rounds of vodka shots?” Fitz groaned, feeling as though the bed was spinning beneath him.

“We were joining in. Having fun. Being actual teenagers instead of the exam obsessed automatons we’ve been for the last few months.” Jemma mumbled, struggling through her words, and flexing her hand, which felt as if it was separate from her body at this moment.

“Oh yeah.” Fitz replied, a tone of slight distaste in his voice.

He couldn’t understand how he’d never seen Jemma’s eyes like this before. They were brown, a beautiful brown, but not all brown, with little flecks of other colours like green in them.

“You have such nice eyes.” Fitz mused, hardly aware that he’d even decided to say that out loud.

“What?” Jemma said with a slight drunken giggle.

“Eyes, your eyes, you have nice, with the brown and the little greeny bits.” Fitz mused out-loud, bringing his hand up to graze the side of her face.

He barely registered Jemma’s eyes flitting from his own eyes to his lips, before he felt her own soft lips again his. For a second, he was surprised. He’d nursed a crush on her in the back of his head since they’d met on the first day of high school, but he never ever thought she’d felt the same way. By the time all of this had flown through his head, he realised he should probably begin kissing her back. He pressed his lips back against hers and sunk into a soft and happy feeling that had nothing to do with the copious amounts of alcohol he’d consumed that evening. They broke apart for air, and Fitz barely had time to take stock of what had just happened before Jemma’s lips were on his again, a lot more passionately this time, her hands wandering up and underneath his shirt, her tongue caressing his lip. It all felt like the most wonderful haze, and suddenly Fitz was aware that his hands were touching the bare skin beneath her dress, the soft skin of her thighs feeling like magic underneath his fingertips. Their bodies somehow ended up flush together, Jemma’s leg wrapped around his as she rained kisses down his throat. This was more intoxicating than the drink, Fitz thought as Jemma leaned back for a moment to pull her dress over her head. The last thing they both remembered was Fitz eagerly pulling Jemma back towards him, capturing her lips in a fierce kiss, as she began to unbutton his shirt.

The first thing Fitz was aware of the next morning was how warm he was. The second thing came as he began to open his eyes and it felt as if a marching band was making a procession through his head. The third thing he became aware of was the head on his shoulder and the hand on his naked waist. Jemma. It could only be Jemma, he thought as he breathed in the familiar flowery scent of her shampoo. Jemma shifted slightly in her sleep and that’s when Fitz became aware of the fourth and most important thing that morning. They were both naked. Suddenly flashes of the previous evening forced themselves into Fitz’s head. Milton singing some ridiculous drinking song at the top of his lungs whilst he and Jemma downed shots. Walking home, holding Jemma’s hand. Collapsing onto her bed and then there was something about her eyes. Then came the increasingly heated kisses and subsequent loss of clothing and then… And then. Fitz groaned. Of all the stupid things that he had done in his life, getting drunk on the last day of exams and sleeping with his best friend who he had had a crush on since the day they had met, truly took the crown for the stupidest and most idiotic thing he had ever done. He felt ashamed of himself, like he had taken Jemma for granted. Just as he was resolving to quietly get up, find his clothes and then run for the hills, never to reenter society again, Jemma began to stir. Her eyes opened and looked up at him and Fitz saw her go through the same set of realisations that had occurred to him ending with:

“Fitz, we’re naked!” She exclaimed, jumping suddenly back from him and pulling the duvet up to cover herself, her face bright red.

“Yes.” Fitz replied with a wince.

“Oh my god we…” Jemma trailed off.

“Yes.”

“And… I started it!” Jemma exclaimed.

“Ye- what?! No! At least I don’t think…” Fitz trailed off.

“Yes, I kissed you and then, things escalated. I think.” Jemma worried, still clutching the duvet to her chest.

They were both very quiet for a moment, staring down at the floral pattern of Jemma’s bedsheets.

“Do you regret it?” Fitz asked quietly, not looking up.

“I-I-I don’t know!” Jemma stammered.

Something wrenched in Fitz’s chest, and he flung the covers off of himself and got up.

“Fitz!” Jemma exclaimed squeezing her eyes tightly shut.

“It’s not like it’s nothing you’ve not seen before.” He muttered bitterly in reply as he tried to locate his underwear. 

Finding his pants haphazardly flung on the back of Jemma’s desk chair, he pulled them on, and began to hunt for the rest of his clothing.

“Fitz, what are you doing?” Jemma asked, her eyes now open, following him about the room.

“Getting dressed, so I can go home and forget this all ever happened.” Fitz murmured as he pulled on his jeans.

“What?”

“This is the most embarrassing thing that I’ve ever done. I’d really just rather forget it.” Fitz reiterated.

“Fitz I -“Jemma started.

“We had sex Jemma! And you’re treating it like it was nothing!” Fitz exclaimed.

“No I’m not!” Jemma argued back.

“Then what was it? Because I know what it was to me.” Fitz said with a tone of resignation.

“I don’t know what it was Fitz! I’m so confused right now and my head hurts. All I know is that last night all I could think is how much I’m going to miss you.” Jemma explained.

“So it was pity?” Fitz asked, not keeping the hurt out of his voice.

“No! It wasn’t pity; I promise! You’re my best friend in the world and you’re joining the Navy! We’ve spent most of the last five years together and now I don’t know if I’ll get to see you twice a year!” Jemma exclaimed.

“And what about you?! Swanning off to Oxford?” Fitz grumbled back.

“You could have come with me! You turned them down! For what? To spend months at a time on some ship with 500 men who haven’t seen a shower in six months, to waste your talent when you could be doing so much more?” Jemma shouted.

“Yeah, think of how much I’d get done holed up in the back of a classroom! You know why I turned down Oxford, it’s not fair that you keep bringing it up!” Fitz shouted back.

“It’s not fair that you’re leaving me!” Jemma bellowed.

“IT’S NOT MY FAULT WE CAN’T AFFO- “Fitz faltered.

“You know what, screw this. I’m going home. I should never have stayed here last night. Enjoy Oxford.” Fitz spat as he finished doing up the buttons on his shirt.

“Yeah, last night was a mistake. Enjoy wasting your life in the Navy.” Jemma spat back, collapsing back onto her bed.

Fitz slammed the door on his way out and went home with a face like thunder. He ignored his mother’s questions of where he’d been and went straight to his room, collapsing on his bed, taking deep breaths. He’d had sex with Jemma. And they ruined it by getting into an enormous fight. If he was being honest with himself, it was a fight that had been coming since they day he’d turned down Oxford and announced he was joining the navy instead. He knew Jemma was hurt by his decision; they’d been planning for Oxford together for years. But it was just him and his mum, and no matter how much they saved, or how many scholarships he got, it just wasn’t possible for them. He knew Jemma thought he was wasting himself on the navy, but he’d actually started getting excited about it. He would get to travel the world and work with all of their ships and planes. It wasn’t fair of Jemma to use it against him, he though, huffing back against his pillows.

They didn’t speak for the rest of the summer. Jemma didn’t even come to say goodbye, the night before he left for training. Fitz wasn’t exactly happy with her either, but in the back of his mind he knew he was actually glad she hadn’t come because it would have hurt so much. When he came back on leave, Jemma was still away at Oxford, finishing her undergraduate degree in record time, his mum told him. Not that Fitz particularly wanted to see her anyway. He had not forgotten the hurtful words of their last meeting. Months passed, and then suddenly it had been years since the morning Fitz had woken up hungover and ashen faced in Jemma’s bedroom. He heard that she was working in America now. Good, as far away from him as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope to be updating this fic every Thursday, at 5PM GMT, so keep your eyes peeled for then. See you next week!
> 
> Skye :)


	2. Is Signor Mountanto Returned From The War, Or No?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 10 years after joining the Navy, Fitz is overjoyed to be starting his first job since leaving active service, but unfortunately, fate has a small surprise in store for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies!  
> How are we all doing? Are we all alive after that premiere?? I saw lots of people missing Fitz around the tumblr-sphere (myself included) so hopefully, even if it isn't quite the real deal, you can get a quick Fitz fix through my little fic haha. Also you will have noticed that the tags have changed somewhat slightly on this fic, and that's because, after abandoning the first chapter in a lone word doc for months, I had actually forgotten my plan for this fic. But I actually sat down this last week and planned to my wee hearts content and now I know what's actually going on in my own fic. But anyway enough blathering from me, enjoy!

**Ten Years Later**

Fitz shut off his alarm with a groan and rolled over, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He’d only been in America for two days and he was still groggy. He sat up sleepily and stared around his sparsely furnished bedroom. It would get better when his first pay cheque came in, and when he’d lived here for a while. Used to early mornings after a decade in the Navy, Fitz swung his feet out of bed, fully awake now, and started to get ready for the day. He did some exercises, a habit taken from his Navy days, being in a cramped ship and cabin and needing to keep up his fitness, whilst also stretching out whilst he could. He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, still not used to the curls on his head after a decade of buzz cuts. In the quiet of the morning he allowed himself to admit that he was nervous. He was starting his new job today, his first ever one after his honourable discharge. He had flourished as a Navy engineer, more than anyone could ever have hoped for, and quickly was being scouted by large weapons firms for his talents, even big, enormous companies like Stark Industries had come calling. But he had turned them all down. He liked the routine of Navy life, it had suited him, but then came the accident. He had had to consider these earlier options then. Intimated slightly by the big corporations like Stark Industries, he had sought something smaller, and had ended up taking an engineering position at SHIELD, a company which provided weapons development and biochemical services to the private sector. They weren’t as big as Stark, but still big enough that they had remarkable resources, better even than the Navy had provided him with. The knot in his stomach tightened as he boarded his bus, and tried to ease it slightly by remembering a particularly funny anecdote when his cabin mate, Hunter had tried sliding down the hallway in his socks after a few drinks and ended up slamming right into the Captain. The thought of Hunter put his mind at ease. He had left the Navy a few years before Fitz had, and joined SHIELD, alongside his friend Lincoln, who he hadn’t known very well, but still wouldn’t walk past him in the street. Friendly faces that he knew was part of the reason why he was so eager to accept the offer from SHIELD if he was being completely honest with himself. He disembarked the bus and looked up at the intimidating building that would now be his work. Fitz gulped slightly and entered. After reporting to reception, a kindly man called Coulson, who also happened to be his new boss, came down and met him, giving him a tour of the building. It was extremely impressive. They started with the engineering facilities, which were like nothing he had ever seen before. Hunter shot him a wink as they passed through, Fitz relieved to see that his lab was across the hallway from theirs. He was shown their weapons testing facilities, even the canteen was impressive. Finally, they entered the biochem labs, just down the hall from where Fitz would be working. He was introduced to a smiling and excitable woman who introduced herself as Daisy, a steely faced woman called May, and finally Coulson rounded on a woman who had her back to them, her neat brown hair tied back in a pony tail.

“Now this, this is our best biochemist, no better in the world!” Coulson explained as they made their was over to her bench.

Fitz nodded. The woman turned, and Fitz felt all of the colour drain out of his face, before rising back up in a boil like he hadn’t felt for ten years. He knew that face. He knew those eyes. Intimately.

“Dr Simmons. This is our new engineer, Dr Leopold Fitz. Dr Fitz this is Dr Jemma Simmons.” Coulson said, clearly not picking up on the hostile atmosphere which had just arisen.

They both stared at each other in disbelief and utter hatred.

“We’ve met.” Jemma finally spat out; Fitz still too shocked to say anything.

“Excellent!” Coulson exclaimed clapping his hands together in satisfaction.

After a few more moments of idle chat, Coulson escorted Fitz from the lab, Fitz turning back and staring at Jemma as they left. What were the chances that he would end up down the hall from the person who had torn out his heart and stamped on his dreams? Doing the maths very quickly, he calculated that they were very low odds indeed. He was barely paying attention when Coulson introduced him to the head of security.

“This is Grant Ward, head of security. Stay on his good side.” Coulson had said with a wink.

Ward did not look impressed at this introduction, but Fitz got the impression that his face hardly ever changed from the hard expression that he currently wore. Coulson led him, dazed, back to his lab and left him to start getting settled in. He’d been given a packet of three projects that he could begin work on, and he flipped through them in a distracted stupor. Finally, one caught his attention, non-lethal weaponry, specifically with the use of dendrotoxins. Fitz was intrigued and began sketching out ideas, meanwhile, Jemma’s cold face danced in the back of his head.

Approaching Coulson after lunch Fitz told him of his interest in the non-lethal weapons project, and the older man’s face lit up.

“Excellent! I was secretly hoping that you’d choose that one. Imagine the change in the world if weapons didn’t have to kill eh? Now you’ll be working closing with the biochem department on this project, they’re providing the sedation, non-lethal section of the project. Dr Simmons who I introduced you to earlier is heading it all up, head over to her lab this afternoon and you can put your heads together.” Coulson said with a happy gleam in his eyes.

Fitz sighed heavily at the mention of Jemma’s name. Of course. Of course, the project he’d picked out on his very first day at his new job meant working closely with the one person he despised most in this world. Coulson caught the look of frustration on Fitz’s face.

“Is there a problem Dr Fitz?” Coulson asked with some concern.

“No! No. I just thought that this would be a bit more independent that’s all.” Fitz replied very quickly.

Coulson softened slightly, but the small furrow in his brow remained.

“Is there anything you need to tell me Dr Fitz?” Coulson asked.

Fitz sighed. He didn’t need to tell him _everything,_ just the bare bones.

“Dr Simmons and I went to the same high school. We had a fight and haven’t spoken in the last ten years. But I assure you we will be mature enough to not let our past infringe on our current work sir.” 

Fitz said this all very quickly, deflating as he did so.

“I see. I trust that you and Dr Simmons will act in professional manner. Thank you for telling me Dr Fitz. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting.” Coulson nodded kindly and walked off, leaving Fitz to sigh yet again, and steel himself for meeting with Jemma.

His hands began to shake as he mentally fortified himself.

“Stop it” He murmured at his hands.

They’d done this ever since his accident. They only shook occasionally now if he was feeling strong emotions like anger or frustration. He still hated it. It made him feel useless. He stood for a few moments, doing the breathing exercises that he knew worked well, until his hands stopped shaking, and made his way into Jemma’s lab. She had her back to him again, hunched over some bench, concentrating hard on something.

“Dr Simmons.”

She jumped slightly, having been so absorbed in her work that she didn’t notice him come in. She turned, and even through her goggles, her frown was unmistakable.

“Dr Fitz. What can I do for you?” Jemma asked as she removed her goggles, not trying to keep the icy tone out of her voice.

“I’ve started working on a delivery system for the non-lethal weapon system that you’ve been preparing the biochemical element for. I wanted to run some specs by you.” He countered, trying to remain professional, but as with Jemma, his voice maintained an unmistakably coolness.

What neither of them noticed was Jemma’s lab assistant, Daisy, who has slowed downed tools and was now watching this exchange with interest.

“Well. Show me what you’ve got.” Jemma demanded after an uncomfortable moment of silence.

Fitz started towards her and began showing her some of the designs he’d sketched up that morning. It was strange, they both thought, being so close after so long. The last time they’d seen each other was that awful morning, Fitz pulling his t-shirt on and slamming the door on his way out, Jemma shouting at his back as he left.

“This is all very well Dr Fitz, but you’ve only allowed for 0.1ml of dendrotoxin in the pistol cartridges. I’m a scientist, not a magician.” Jemma quipped after a few moments.

“Well I could increase the size of the bullets, but that would have a knock-on effect on the size of magazine which would throw off the equilibrium of… “

“Well the rifle looks better; I suppose I could work with those dimensions. Could you start on a mock-up on that?” Jemma interrupted.

“What I was going to say before you interrupted me, was that if you give me a day to do the maths, I’m sure I could increase the bullet size to accommodate your dendrotoxin.” Fitz practically spat back.

“It would standardise the bullet size with the rifle, allowing the bullets to be mass produced without a size discrepancy, making it more efficient all round. Is that not a more elegant solution Dr Simmons?” Fitz continued, not even trying to hide the steely tone of his voice anymore.

“I suppose so Dr Fitz.” Jemma snapped back.

There was a moment of tense silence.

“When did you even become Dr Fitz? Last I knew, you’d get nothing done holed up at the back of a classroom.” Jemma spat quietly at him.

“If you must know, the Navy put me through university. It helps them you see if they have highly skilled personnel. Allowed me to earn more and get my mum more comfortably situated, whilst still remaining in my active service. So, you see, it wasn’t as some people thought, a waste of time and talent.” Fitz’s voiced dripped with sarcasm.

Jemma’s eyes narrowed in dislike.

“You like to end on a guilt trip don’t you. I know you, remember.” She practically growled at him.

“At least I didn’t use my privilege to make others feel small. How difficult it must have been all those years to hang about with your poor friend Fitz.” He quipped back quickly.

Jemma’s nostrils flared in anger.

“Go away Fitz. Your somewhat intelligent input into this conversation ended about five minutes ago. Come back when you have those mock- ups ready.” Jemma spat back at him.

“Fine.” Fitz said as he snatched up his tablet and stormed out of the room.

Jemma huffed out a few heavy sighs, trying to stop her blood from boiling as she watched Fitz’s back retreat out of the room. After a few moments she saw out of the corner of her eye, Daisy looking at her bemusedly.

“So, would you like to tell me what was going on behind that or would you like me to guess?” Daisy asked with a smile as Jemma made eye contact with her.

Jemma shot her a look which patently told her not to do either, which Daisy ignored.

“So _obviously_ there’s a history there. You cannot mutually dislike each other that much on first sight.” Daisy mused.

“Yes! Okay. We went to high school together. We were, we were best friends for years.” Jemma replied with a mixture of annoyance and resignation, knowing that Daisy would find out about this somehow.

“And what happened? I mean I know you two were arguing, you both made what sounded like some very deep cuts by the way, but you were so close that I half expected you to jump each other’s bones or something.”

Jemma went bright red, and turned swiftly back to her bench, hoping Daisy hadn’t noticed. Unfortunately for Jemma, Daisy was far too observant for her own good.

“Oh my god! Jemma! Did you two…” Daisy exclaimed.

Jemma went a deeper shade of red, quickly shutting the lab door, and turning to face Daisy.

“Yes. We did. But we were drunk and it was a mistake, and we both regretted it the next morning and we fought and today is the first time I’ve seen him since that morning so you can understand why our interaction was perhaps a little bit tense.” Jemma reeled off very quickly, her eyes darting about to make sure no one was going to storm in or overhear this _deeply_ private conversation.

“Shit Jemma.” Daisy breathed.

“I’m sorry. That really sucks. But also, man, you two really went to town on each other there. Must have been some fight.”

“It was.” Jemma sighed.

“I said some things I really regret, but I just cannot forget some of the things he said to me.”

“And do you regret, you know?? Was it any good?” Daisy asked with a wry smile.

“As far as I know, it was both of our first times, and we were so drunk I honestly don’t remember very much of it, but as for you know, the act itself, in hindsight, I don’t regret it. In a small way I’m glad it was someone I knew and could trust so much.” Jemma said with a small sad sigh.

“I just cannot forget what he said to me after, how he acted, that’s what makes my blood boil.” Jemma said softly, turning back to her desk, placing her goggles back on and making a fine attempt at trying to concentrate.

Catching the look on Daisy’s face out of the side of her eyes as she turned back, Jemma knew that this was not by far the last conversation they were having about this.

“So how’s it going with you and that bioengineer? Lincoln, isn’t it?” Jemma asked in a blatant attempt at changing the conversation.

Daisy’s face lit up slightly.

“It’s going good. He’s really sweet, and calls me out on my shit, which you know I need sometimes. But I really like him. I honestly thing this could be something really good Jemma.” Daisy said with a smile, her own work completely abandoned behind her.

Meanwhile down the corridor Fitz was braced against his desk, breathing deeply, so consumed in his own mind that he didn’t even hear the two people enter the room.

“Woah, buddy are you okay?” Came a voice from the doorway.

Fitz looked up to see the source of the voice and saw a kindly looking man, with mussed blonde hair. Lincoln, he remembered. Beside him was Hunter, who wore a look of ultimate concern. Hunter had been there during his accident, and after, had been a really good mate during his whole recovery and discharge too, so his worry had slightly more foundation than that of Lincoln’s.

“I’m fine. Just trying to calm myself down.” Fitz explained with a sigh.

“What happened mate? It’s not the injury playing up is it?” Hunter asked, the look of concern still etched on his features.

Fitz paused a moment. He’d never told Hunter about Jemma; he hadn’t seen the need. If he was being perfectly honest, he’d never wanted to talk about her, and what had happened. But now they were working together, were going to be seeing each other every single day, he couldn’t see how Hunter, or anyone for that fact could fail to notice the tension between them, especially if it was always going to be like the shouting match that had just occurred. Sighing, Fitz resigned himself, he would have to tell him.

“Nah, it’s not the injury. Shut the door and I’ll tell you.” Fitz said with some resignation.

Hunter looked confused, but chivvied the other man into the lab and shut the door.

“You remember Lincoln by the way. He’s a bioengineer. He flits in and out of this lab sometimes.” Hunter explained, gesturing the man.

Lincoln held out his hand, and Fitz took it carefully, aware that his hands could start to shake at any given moment.

“Nice to see you again!” Lincoln said kindly.

Fitz hesitated before speaking, looking carefully at Lincoln and then back at Hunter.

“Don’t worry about Lincoln. He’s a good dude, he won’t be spreading your juicy gossip all over the office, don’t you worry mate.” Hunter explained, reading Fitz’s expression.

“Fine. It’s… it’s… it’s about Dr Simmons.” Fitz eventually huffed out, his eyes shifting to the door.

Hunter’s face lit up like a child on Christmas. Fitz shot him a look and he tried to rearrange his features with very little success.

“So, you and the elusive Dr Simmons. I know you didn’t talk much about what you did on leave but man I never would have expected that.” Hunter said, a wry grin on his face.

Fitz put his face in his hands and tried to gain the strength to actually start his tale, never mind end it.

“Hunter, no. Completely wrong end of the stick. I mean… its’s complicated.” Fitz said as he emerged from behind his hands.

Hunter was now looking confused, but amused, and Lincoln, well he wasn’t entirely sure. If Fitz had to guess he would have placed him somewhere in the confused category.

“I knew Jemma in high school. We were best friends actually, the whole time. But then…” Fitz trailed.

“Okay, who saw who naked?” Hunter asked.

Fitz went bright red, and Hunter grinned widely. Lincoln elbowed him hard, noticing the look on Fitz’s face.

“We had a big fight, right as we finished our last exams. We said some really awful things to each other. We knew each other so well; we knew where it would hurt the most I suppose.” Fitz said quietly after a moment.

The two men opposite him stayed silent.

“Today was the first time I’d seen her since that morning. I just went in there to talk to her about that non-lethal weapons project, and you can imagine. It was like that morning all over again, just tearing shreds out of each other.” Fitz explained.

Again, the two men were silent.

“So I was wrong you two never…” Hunter said after a moment, making a rude hand gesture as he did so, causing Lincoln to elbow him again, this time so hard, Hunter nearly fell over.

Fitz went slightly pink again. He’d been hoping Hunter wouldn’t bring that up again, and then to avoid the question for the rest of time. But he couldn’t.

“We were both drunk. It was a mistake. It ruined our friendship and after we woke up together, we started fighting and I stormed out.” Fitz said very quickly, as if he was ridding himself of something poisonous or unpleasant.

“I said some things I really regret, but I just cannot forget some of the things she said to me.” He sighed.

“I had hoped that it would all just be in the past and remain there, but now we work together. I guess I’ll just have to get used to dealing with her and her sharp tongue on a regular basis.”

“Look mate, you’ll get this project done, and in no time because you’re the smartest bloody person I know, and then you can forget all about it and just work on engineering projects and just forget the biochem department even exists.” Hunter said in his most comforting voice, slapping Fitz on the shoulder as he did so.

Fitz gave him a grimacing smile, and was thankful at least to have Hunter here. His only hope now was that he wouldn’t bring it up every five minutes. He comforted himself at least that he has a good back catalogue of stuff on Hunter, should he ever put a toe over the line, which if he was being honest with himself was bound to happen sooner rather than later. Fitz huffed another big sigh, trying to rid himself of the residual anger and frustration that remained from his interaction with Jemma.

“Thanks Hunter. You’re right, it’ll be fine. We’ll just have to get used to each other again, and act like grownups. I already told Coulson we would.” Fitz sighed with resignation.

Both men raised their eyebrows.

“Did you tell Coulson _everything_ you just told us?” Lincoln asked with some concern.

“No! God no, just the bare bones. Enough to be getting on with and to just barely understand. No! He’s the boss that would be highly inappropriate.” Fitz quickly exclaimed.

Hunter and Lincoln visibly relaxed at his words.

“You’ll be fine Fitz. Honestly. You are, myself excepted of course, the most intelligent person I’ve ever met, Dr Jemma Simmons is, and don’t hate me for saying this, is a close second. If you two can’t sort your shit out, then the rest of us are truly screwed.” Hunter said with a smile.

Fitz grinned.

“And if you do need any dirt, then my girlfriend Bobbi works in Jemma’s lab. Although they get on pretty well, so maybe she wouldn’t dish so easily…” Hunter mused.

“Thanks for the offer mate, but unlike you petty isn’t really my go to thing.” Fitz replied with a smile as he gathered up his stuff.

“Now, that’s a low blow Leopold. I may have used SOME petty tactics to that girl who cheated on me when we were in that Australian port, but have I done it since???” Hunter protested.

Hunter followed Fitz over to his desk, and proceeded to poorly defend himself for the rest of the afternoon, Lincoln looking on bemusedly. Hunter was right, Fitz thought. They were two very smart and intelligent people. As long as there was no more big dramas or shouting matches like there was today, everything would be absolutely fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weirdly it's really hard to write FitzSimmons fighting like this. I mean I know they bicker, but the low cheap, but powerful blows are something else. I keep getting horrible season two flashbacks when I'm writing it. I would also just like to add here, how much fun I'm having writing Hunter. I haven't written much of him, but he's just very fun to inhabit and imagine. Daisy is, and remains to be one of my most favourite characters to write. I have genuinely missed writing her. I will be back again with another chapter next Thursday! See you then!
> 
> Skye :)


	3. She Speaks Poignards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the SHIELD Christmas party and this year they've gone all out with a masquerade ball theme. But with Fitz and Simmons bickering every five minutes, can it really be a jolly Christmas night out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies! It's been a bit of a week over here at Skye HQ, so much so that I almost forgot AoS was on last night and that I had a chapter to upload today. (I'm fine, all lovely things, just a lot of overwhelmingly thought consuming lovely things). I cannot believe we are at the halfway point of this fic already! It feel like I just uploaded the first chapter yesterday! Thank you so much for reading and kudos-ing and commenting so far, all that stuff really does mean the world, and bonus makes me excited like a little child. Anyway, I will let you get on with reading, this one is where things truly start a-happening. Enjoy!

To a point, Hunter had been right. Fitz had had many more interactions with Jemma in the three months he’d been at SHIELD and only once did they verge on the precipice of shouting at each other as they had done of Fitz’s first day, however it only ended with Jemma turning on her heel and leaving right in the middle of their conversation. Much to Jemma’s chagrin, Daisy had continued on her “you two just need to bang.” diatribe ever since she’d told her what had happened between her and Fitz to make them hate each other so very much. Jemma mostly just ignored her and carried on her work without acknowledging a single word she said, or better, talked about Lincoln, who Daisy was now absolutely adorably head over heels for, and would happily talk about for hours. Their fellow lab-mate and friend Bobbi would coincidentally always put her headphones in just as these conversations started up. Bobbi wasn’t exactly one for mushy-gushy feelings, as Jemma had learned in the few times she had tried to talk to or rather, ranted to her about her relationship with Fitz. Bobbi secretly agreed with Daisy, that in this particular case, the line between love and hate was microscopically thin. The general feeling in Fitz’s lab was remarkably similar, with Lincoln swanning in and out in a lovestruck daze, and Hunter wondering out loud about how beneficial it might be for Jemma and Fitz to just jump each other’s bones. Fitz, like Jemma, mostly ignored these comments, usually receiving them with an unseen eyeroll, particularly because Hunter’s relationship with Bobbi turned out to be more off the off again, on again variety, and rather frequently went back and forth between the two.

In what felt like no time at all, Fitz had been at SHIELD for six months and he and Jemma were _finally_ about to finish up their non-lethal weapons project. Their latest argument was about what to call it. Fitz had been fondly calling it the ‘Night-Night Gun’ in his head and then slowly out loud in the lab, to which Jemma had mocked mercilessly, arguing sensibly, much to Fitz’s chagrin, that it would not be marketable to big buyers and manufacturers with such a silly sounding name. It was such a hot topic now, that even Daisy left the lab when the whole name-game started again. The weather was turning cold now, and Fitz was really hoping that they’d get this project wrapped up before the winter break started. It would be a nice way to finish the year, with his first big project in the bag and hopefully the end of working with Jemma in sight. What he really, really was not looking forward to was the upcoming company Christmas party. It was a masquerade theme this year and he was dreading it. If Hunter wasn’t making him go he wouldn’t be attending at all. But unfortunately, Hunter had already secured their places and tossed a black embroidered mask at him, going on and on about how fun it was. Fitz secretly thought that it was rather ridiculous that an agency that dealt in stealth and spy weaponry was doing a masquerade ball but everyone else seemed ridiculously excited by the idea, so who was he to dampen everyone else’s fun.

The ball itself was the least of Fitz problems. About a month ago, Lincoln had bowled into their lab and was acting the most bizarre mix of excited and shifty that Fitz had ever seen. He announced, unable to keep the smile off of his face, that he was planning to propose to Daisy the night of the ball. He immediately collapsed into a chair and reeled off all the reasons why he wanted to propose, and lamented for a good ten minutes about how nervous he was because they hadn’t been going out that long, but when you knew, you knew, right? Unfortunately for him Fitz and Hunter just blinked at him, unable to think of anything to comfort or reassure the poor man. Whilst he was desperately searching for something, anything, to say to Lincoln, Fitz noticed out the corner of his eye, the security guard, Ward leaning on the door frame, listening, apparently amused at Lincolns nervous outpouring.

“Can we help?” Fitz asked turning to face Ward.

Ward grinned and Fitz couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Ward was a very traditionally handsome man, strong with chiselled features, and a very charming and eloquent man to talk to, but there was something about him that felt off to Fitz.

“Nope. I was just gonna say that the man was right. That’s all.” Ward replied plainly.

All three men looked back at him confused.

“When you know, you know.” Ward said simply, before turning and walking off.

Lincoln looked almost relieved at his words, but Fitz furrowed his brow.

“There’s something off about that man. I cannot quite put my finger on it, but it’s there” Fitz said as he watch Ward walk off in the distance.

“I agree. Doesn’t exactly help that the man looks like a big wall come to life but hey.” Hunter rambled before turning back to Lincoln.

“Anyway mate, as the big spooky wall says, when you know you know, and if it feels right to you and you think she’s gonna say yes, then go for it.” He continued, trying to bring some kind of reassurance to Lincoln.

“I just want to be really really certain.” Lincoln replied.

Hunter paused for a second, before lighting up wildly.

“Right! I have an idea. See the night of the ball, before you go and pop the question, I’ll go and have a chat with Daisy, feel out the waters, nice and smooth like, and I can report back that you can either go for it, or abort mission. How does that sound?” Hunter said confidently.

“Great!” Lincoln exclaimed.

Fitz didn’t say anything, personally thinking that it was all a bit overboard. But then again, it would be entertaining to try and watch Hunter be subtle for the very first time in his life.

The night of the ball came frighteningly quick, much to Fitz’s disappointment. Thankfully, he had managed to worm his way out of wearing the kilt that he had stashed away at the back of his cupboard. Ever since Hunter had learned of its existence, he had been nagging Fitz to wear it, insisting it would be, in Hunters own words “a lady magnet.” He was currently on one of his off again periods with Bobbi, after a particularly nasty fight, which ended with Bobbi dying her hair brown just to spite him, knowing just how much Hunter hated her with dark hair. Fitz, for his part, was secretly glad for their timing, thankful that he wouldn’t be left alone all night, rather than acting like a fifth wheel for the entire evening. They rolled up to the pretentiously named ball room, and despite himself, Fitz had to admit that he was impressed. The company really had gone all out, the mixture of festive and historical décor was really quite something. What didn’t impress him so much was the list of rules that were set out at the door, that you had to keep your mask on at all times, you weren’t allowed to directly ask anyone who they were, and you were only allowed to take your mask off at midnight. He was in a particularly foul mood, having finally lost the fight to Jemma earlier that day about the name of the non-lethal pistols. Night-Night Gun was out and Icer was in. He couldn’t get rid of the image of her smug face as Coulson had announced it from his head.

He spent the first hour at the evening at the bar with Hunter, bemoaning this to him over and over, the more and more he drunk. What he didn’t see was Hunter dramatically rolling his eyes every time he started ranting about Jemma again. After he’d had just about enough of this Hunter got up and began to walk away.

“Woah, woah, where you going?” Fitz asked with a slight slur in his voice.

“I need to go chat to Daisy. You know, before lover boy proposes at midnight.” Hunter replied, jerking his head to where a group of women, who despite their masks, were quite obviously Daisy, Jemma and Bobbi, were chatting in the corner of the room.

Fitz rolled his eyes as Hunter walked off, turning his attention back to his drink. Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Lincoln watched on nervously as Hunter walked over and struck up a conversation with Daisy. It didn’t take long before they were laughing together. Lincoln wasn’t sure if this reassured him or made him more nervous. Hunter had been speaking to Daisy for about five minutes before a large figure settled himself next to Lincoln. Lincoln barely registered him, his gaze still fixed on the unknown conversation between Hunter and Daisy, waiting for some kind of acknowledgement from Hunter that all was okay.

“You know he’s just trying to get into her pants right.” The voice next to him said plainly.

Lincoln swiftly turned his head to look at the man next to him, recognising him beneath his mask as Ward, the security guard.

“How do you know that?” Lincoln fired back, unable to keep the waver of insecurity from his voice.

“I’m the security guard, it’s my job to know everyone’s business.” Ward replied slyly.

“He’s just trying to get some kind of weird revenge on Bobbi. You must know they’ve got that ridiculous off and on relationship going on.” Ward continued, sipping his whiskey.

Lincoln blanched as he nodded, watching as Daisy threw her head back in laughter at something Hunter had said. Lincoln felt his blood boil at the sight, and stormed off, unable to look at Hunter and Daisy any longer. As Lincoln thundered off, he passed the bar, where Fitz was still sat, but was now joined by an unsuspecting Jemma, who had now had enough to drink that she was just able to recognise her own hand, never mind the man sitting next to her.

“So you won’t tell me who you are?” Jemma whined over her gin.

“No. Against the rules.” Fitz quipped.

“You’d never call me annoying, though would you? I’ve had just about enough of that from _dear_ Dr Fitz.” Jemma drawled.

Fitz paused, realising how he might have a unique opportunity before him, to find out what Jemma truly thought of him.

“What’s he?” Fitz asked carefully, trying to mask his Scottish accent as much as possible, though he swore it got more pronounced after he had a drink.

“You don’t know him?” Jemma replied in some kind of drunken disbelief.

“No. Truly. Who is he?” Fitz asked carefully, sure he was going to be rumbled at any second.

“He’s Hunter’s little pet. Follows him around like a little dog. It’s quite sad actually. Sucks right up to Coulson too. Today, today he didn’t even fight him on the naming of his precious Night-Night gun. Such a stupid name.” Jemma ranted.

“When I meet him, I’ll be sure to tell him all you say about him.” Fitz replied through gritted teeth.

“Oh do!” Jemma exclaimed.

“He needs to stop being so pathetically complacent. The only person he fights on stuff is me, and even then it’s not like he gets his way very much.” She continued, not noticing the skin on Fitz’s face getting steadily redder and redder as she spoke. 

“Excuse me. I’m a bit hot.” Fitz spat at her, grabbing his drink and getting up, heading for the balcony doors behind them.

Jemma gave him a feeble wave, before turning back to her drink and looking off dreamily into the distance. Fitz, meanwhile, flung off his mask and took in several deep breaths of the sharp cold air, before realising that he wasn’t alone. Lincoln was in the corner, bracing himself against the railings, his face red, either from tears or anger, Fitz couldn’t quite tell.

“You alright mate?” Fitz asked, his own anger momentarily forgotten, as he approached the shaking man.

“You can’t trust anyone can you? Not even someone you thought was your best mate?” Lincoln spat, not looking at Fitz.

Fitz furrowed his brow in confusion.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Hunter!” Lincoln cried, turning his head to look at Fitz who was looking as confused as ever.

“Trying to nail my girlfriend to get some petty revenge on Bobbi, when he KNEW I was gonna propose tonight.”

Fitz was taken aback.

“Woah, woah! Hunter?? Trying to get with Daisy??? No mate, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. He would never do that. I’m not saying he wouldn’t do anything petty to get at Bobbi, in fact that’s right up his alley, but he’d never go after one of his pal’s girlfriends. Where did you even hear that??” Fitz cried.

“Ward.” Lincoln spat.

“Ward??! And what would he know about it. You’re being stupid mate. Hunter would never, hell Daisy would never. Do you really distrust both of them that much??” Fitz exclaimed.

Lincoln seemed to calm slightly for a moment at these words, and shook his head.

“I just…” Lincoln sighed.

“I love Daisy so much, and I know she’s far too good for me. I just, I get insecure about it all. I feel like, sometimes she’s just gonna realise how much better she is than me and leave.” He finished.

Fitz sighed.

“You’re a good pal and everything Lincoln, but you have to understand how truly stupid you sound right now. Daisy loves you, to a quite frankly annoying extent. As for Hunter, I know he can be a right annoying bastard sometimes, with not the best track record when it comes to relationships, but he’s a good dude really. He would never do that to you.” Fitz reassured, putting a hand on Lincoln’s shoulder.

Lincoln visibly relaxed and nodded, slowly coming to his sensed. Fitz breathed a sigh of relief. This however was short lived, as Jemma burst into the balcony.

“There you are!” She cried at Lincoln.

It was now Lincoln’s turn to look confused.

“Hunter sent me to find you. He said a lot of confusing things about Daisy and you, and you and Daisy. But anyway, here you are! He told me to tell you that you’re all good and that midnight is a go, whatever the hell that means.” She rambled.

“Excuse me. I’ve heard enough from _you_ this evening.” Fitz growled, swiftly passing Jemma on his way back into the building.

As he walked away, he allowed the fully weight of what Jemma had said to him earlier settle. Hunter’s pet?! Coulson’s little suck up?! White hot rage seemed to suddenly fill him, and he slammed his hand against the nearest wall, instantly regretting it as his hand began to throb.

“You alright mate?” Hunter said sidling up behind him.

“Fine.” Fitz replied through gritted teeth.

“Just another wonderful interaction with the _charming_ Dr Simmons.”

Hunter gave a small smile and braced himself.

“Well she had an awful lot to say about you, when I was chatting to her and Daisy. She’s got quite the grudge against you my friend. Kept going on and on and on about how you’d misused her.” Hunter explained.

Fitz looked outraged.

“MISUSED HER?!?!?!? She’s got some nerve. She misused me, like her own little puppet to do as she pleased back in high school. You know what she said to me earlier?? She’d had quite a lot to drink, and not thinking that I was myself,” Fitz said, gesturing at the mask in his hand.

“, she proceeded to insult me in every possible way. She called me Hunter’s pet, Coulson’s suck up!” Fitz exploded.

It was everything Hunter could do to stop himself laughing.

“There I stood, like a man at a mark, her machine gun of a mouth just firing insult after insult at me. It was incredible actually. I’m not sure she even stopped to take breath! I cannot even bare to speak about her, never mind anything else.” Fitz huffed.

Hunter went to open his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by Fitz’s continuing diatribe.

“It’s just never ending with her. Everywhere she goes, she just brings this triade of insults and misery, it’s a wonder anything can live near her.” Fitz continued.

“Oh look, here she comes!” Hunter exclaimed, gesturing behind Fitz, where Jemma was pulling Lincoln along by the arm.

Fitz whipped around and saw her, all colour quickly draining out of his face.

“I guess that’s my queue to leave. I’ll not bare another minute of abuse from _dear_ Dr Simmons here.” Fitz snipped.

He glared at Jemma for a moment before heading for the door.

“Good luck man” Fitz said, pausing to clap Lincoln on the shoulder, before shooting another deathly look at Jemma before leaving.

Jemma just rolled her eyes at Fitz before turning to Hunter.

“You’ve certainly lost his heart there my dear.” Hunter said to her as he watched Fitz retreat from the hall.

“Yes. He gave it to me for an evening, but he left it behind, and left himself without one at all.” Jemma sighed.

Hunter gave her a small, seemingly sad smile. He wasn’t sure she’d be saying any of this without the assistance of the gin in her hand.

“You can be a bit harsh on him sometimes.” Hunter remarked.

“No more as harsh as he is to me. What kind of woman would I be if I didn’t hold my own? Anyway, enough about _Doctor_ Fitz, I have brought you Lincoln, who you sent me to find.” Jemma responded, quickly changing the subject, grabbing Lincoln by the arm and shoving him forward.

“Well mate, you’re in. She’d marry you tomorrow if you asked, her words not mine.” Hunter exclaimed.

Lincoln just stared at him, joy slowly filling up in his face.

“Well go and find her, it’s five to midnight. Thank god then we can finally take these blasted masks off.” Hunter exclaimed, shoving at the mask on his face.

Lincoln sped off in search of Daisy, and right enough five minutes later they all watched as Lincoln got down on one knee, fumbled slightly getting the ring out of his pocket, and Daisy clapping her hands to her mouth, nodding her head furiously before Lincoln even got the all important words out.

At the bar, Jemma was watching the whole scene, Hunter by her side.

“Well, I guess I should start looking for a new flatmate.” Jemma sighed, watching as Lincoln picked up Daisy and spun her round.

“Or, I could go begging for a boyfriend, and get him to move in and pay half the rent.”

Hunter chuckled.

“Do you want me to find you one? As I have clearly proved this evening I am quite the cupid myself.” Hunter said, gesturing to Daisy and Lincoln.

Jemma burst out laughing. She couldn’t help it. It got even worse when Hunter started protesting, and she ended up doubled over in laughter. When she eventually calmed herself down, she looked back at Hunter who was pouting into his beer bottle.

“I’m sorry Hunter, but you don’t exactly have the best reputation for relationships yourself. Just look at you and Bobbi.” Jemma pointed out.

“Low blow, Simmons low blow.” Hunter mockingly scolded.

“I’m going to go and say congratulations to the happy couple. I’ll see you later.” Jemma nodded to Hunter before walking off towards the celebrating couple.

It was much later in the evening, when Hunter, Lincoln, Daisy, Bobbi, Coulson and the ever silent May were gathered around the bar, the lights in the ballroom were up, and the waitstaff were furiously giving them all looks that patently said that they wanted to go home. Jemma had left not long after Fitz, complaining of sore feet, Daisy receiving the most severe of glares after implying she was leaving to go hook up with Fitz.

“Is it just me or, would, if they could ever stop shouting and bickering at each other, Fitz and Simmons actually make the quite a good couple.” Hunter mused, leaning on the bar, more to keep himself upright than anything else.

This was met with a round of approval from the rest of the group. Even May nodded from the back of the group.

“They’re like too perfect for each other. They just need to get over what happened in high school and bang each others nerdy little brains out and have a string of perfect genius children.” Daisy added, swaying from where she was perched on Lincoln’s lap.

“EXACTLY!” Bobbi cried, pointing at Daisy.

“Right, we are a group of not unintelligent people.” Hunter considered.

“Speak for yourself.” Bobbi retorted, garnering a laugh from everyone else, but a seriously cold look from Hunter.

“What I mean is, surely we can think of a way to get them together? To get them to realise that they’re actually perfect for each other.” Hunter continued.

Daisy’s eyes lit up.

“YES!” She exploded, jumping up from Lincoln’s lap.

“So who’s in?” Hunter asked.

Bobbi, Daisy and Lincoln raised their hands immediately, soon followed by Coulson, and to Hunter’s shock, May. He looked at her with a look of delighted incredulity.

“I just want peace back in my lab, and if this will do it, I’m in.” May explained.

Hunter looked from May to Coulson.

“What she said. Besides, who knows, they both might be a lot more productive if they actually liked each other. Just make sure I don’t have to report you to HR Hunter.” Coulson said with a smile.

“On it like a car bonnet boss!” Hunter exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

“If we can pull this off, Cupid should hand his bows in and name us the gods of love instead.” Hunter drunkenly exclaimed.

This caused Daisy to burst into a fit of the giggles, which were only interrupted by Bobbi saying:

“Right Cupid, your taxi’s here.”

The next morning Hunter was awoken by the chime of his phone. He grumbled, his head pounding, and the latter part of the evening coming back to him in bits and pieces. He picked up his phone and saw that he had been added to a group chat called “Mission FitzSimmons.”. Suddenly realising what he’d done before he’d been bundled into his taxi by Bobbi, he swiped his phone open and saw the first message in the group chat.

 **Daisy Johnson** : Are we doing this or what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading, and coming back every week. Next week's chapter is really quite something. Took me a hot second to figure out the logistics but trust me it was worth it. Also I know Lincoln is a bit OOC however I just needed him to be insecure so that the actual plot of Much Ado worked. Thanks again, sosososososososoSO much for reading. See you next week!
> 
> Skye :)


	4. We Are The Only Love Gods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their drunken pact at the christmas party, the Shield team have slowly been working on a plan to finally make FitzSimmons realise how they truly feel about each other? Will it go off without a hitch, or will the clever scientists realise what their friends are up to and spoil the whole thing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies!
> 
> How are we all? It has been quite the twenty four hours for the fandom, what with that AMAZING EP, and the literal two seconds of new FitzSimmons footage (thank U insta) and here I am, to add to the wonderful chaos with another chapter. This was honestly a DELIGHT to write, and I hope you’ll see why. Anyway, I am rambling as always, I will let you get on to the reading!

Team FitzSimmons, as they had called themselves, (Hunter was still miffed at the immediate rejection of his suggestion, Team Love Gods), worked steadily on a plan over the winter break. It hadn’t been easy, and Hunter had nearly been chucked out of the group chat on several occasions for making questionable suggestions, only stopping when Coulson threatened to get HR involved, but finally they had something solid. The week after everyone had come back from winter break was to be when it all kicked off.

Both Fitz and Simmons liked to work late on a Wednesday night, allowing the rest of the team a perfect opportunity to ambush them with feelings, as Daisy called it. Fitz was up first, the perfectly timed plan taking into careful consideration the fact the Fitz liked to leave at five o’clock and go and pick up dinner before continuing with his work for the evening. This allowed Coulson, Lincoln, and Hunter to strategically place themselves in the breakroom whilst May, Daisy and Bobbi kept Jemma busy, for now. With Lincoln placed at the door as a lookout, they patiently waited for Fitz to return with his dinner.

“He’s coming! He’s coming!” Lincoln whispered furiously as he ran to sit down next to Coulson and Hunter.

Right as Fitz set foot in the doorway Hunter very loudly exclaimed:

“So what was it you were saying Lincoln, about Simmons being _in love_ with Fitz?”

The effect was predictable and instantaneous. Fitz tripped backwards out of the doorway with a start, lingering just out of sight so he could eavesdrop on the rest of the conversation.

“Yeah, like Daisy was telling me the other day, she’s just absolutely desperately in love with him. The anger thing is just self-defence. She doesn’t want to get hurt again.” Lincoln explained calmly, but with a wry grin on his face that Fitz couldn’t see.

“How bad is she?” Hunter asked, trying his very best to sound sympathetic.

“Bad.” Lincoln replied.

“Daisy says when she’s at home, she just mopes about, crying and moaning about how much loves him and wants to be with him.”

“Really? God you’d never know it with the way she acts towards him.” Hunter mused, also wearing a sneaky grin on his face.

“Like I said, it’s just self-defence. Fitz hurt her bad in high school and as much as she loves him, she doesn’t want to go through all that again.” Lincoln explained.

“Has she thought about telling him how she feels?” Hunter asked.

“Nah. Not seriously at least.”

“Are you sure about that Lincoln?” Coulson finally piped up.

“Simmons approached me last week, the day we all came back from winter break, and asked me some vague but telling questions about relationships in the workplace. You both know how she is about rules.”

“Really?” Both Hunter and Lincoln replied in mock surprise.

From the doorway they heard a clatter of sound, and the following noises of Fitz trying to pick up the dinner that he’d just dropped on the ground.

“Did she mention anything specific?” Lincoln enquired.

“Not really, but it wasn’t hard to guess that she was talking about Fitz.” Coulson elaborated with a knowing smile.

“I feel sorry for her.” Hunter said, slumping back into his chair.

“Don’t get me wrong, Fitz is my best mate, but he really is a prat about Simmons like. I know he told us in roundabout terms what happened there, but she can’t really be all at fault can she? I know what he’s like and he can be a stubborn bastard at times. And really he could do so much worse than Simmons. She’s actually really nice, and honestly kind of perfect for Fitz.”

“What should we do then?” Lincoln asked after a moment.

“Wouldn’t it just be easier to just tell Fitz how she feels?” Coulson mused.

“Nah, I think he’d just make fun of her boss.” Hunter replied.

“I think the best thing to do is just leave her be, let her break her own heart, and she’ll get over it. I know it won’t stop the verbal warfare, but it might just be easier on her rather that Fitz using it as some kind of leverage against her.”

“You might be right.” Lincoln considered.

“Anyway, it’s well past home time. Are you still giving me a lift home mate?” Hunter asked as he loudly got up and out of his chair.

From the hallway they could hear Fitz scrabbling to find somewhere to hide. Eventually, they saw the door to the bathrooms across the hall slamming shut, just as they emerged from the break room and into the hallway. All three men remained composed until they were into the car park, at which point Hunter doubled over in peals of laughter.

“God, if he doesn’t love her now, then I’m a bloody pigeon. Or at least if he doesn’t love her, he should at least feel sorry for her and mightily ashamed of himself.” Hunter laughed.

“I’ll send Daisy a message letting her know we’ve done our bit, and that stage two is a go. Poor Fitz. I hope he eventually manages to pick his jaw up off the floor.” Lincoln chuckled.

“You two better be right that this calms things down between them. If they start bickering even more, I may just have to transfer one of them to our other location across the country.” Coulson sighed.

“Don’t you worry boss man. This will work like a dream! I guarantee it!” Hunter exclaimed.

“That doesn’t exactly put me more at ease Hunter.” Coulson replied with a mixture of a grimace and a smile.

Meanwhile, back in the lab, his dinner abandoned on his work bench, Fitz was pacing furiously. Jemma, love him?! Surely not. Jemma Simmons?! Love him?! Why?! That fight that they’d had all those years ago, the way she’d reacted when they woke up together, he knew himself what he felt then. She’d been horrified, disgusted even, that they’d slept together. But that was ten years ago. People change. Their opinions change. Could Jemma have changed her opinion that much, Fitz wondered. He never would have believed it if it was just Hunter and Lincoln chatting, he knew how much Hunter liked a joke, but the fact that Coulson, _Coulson_ of all people, confirmed it, it must be true. She must be in love with him. And who was he kidding. He’d been in love with her from the very first second he saw her on the first day of high school. He’d just allowed the hurt of that last, stupid argument to cloud his judgement and take over his emotions and grow and spiral out of control over the last ten years. She was, and still is, the most beautiful person he’d ever seen in his life. They’d gotten on so well and complimented each other’s personalities perfectly, it only made sense that it would translate well into a romantic relationship. A romantic relationship with Jemma Simmons. A small thrill made its way through Fitz’s body. If the hazy memories he had of kissing her, and the even hazier memories he had of when they had slept together, a romantic relationship with Jemma Simmons would be beyond perfect. He was in love with her. So deeply and ridiculously in love with her. Disturbed from his reverie by a cough from his doorway, Fitz looked up. Jemma was standing there, her face like thunder. He jumped about a mile when he realised who had appeared in his doorway.

“Daisy wants you to come and check something in our lab.” Jemma huffed.

“D-does she?” Fitz spluttered, trying lean back cooly on his lab bench, stumbling in the process.

Jemma rolled her eyes at him.

“Yes, and today preferably.” She snipped.

“Thank you for coming to tell me.” Fitz quickly responded.

Jemma looked confused.

“So, are you having a nice day?” Fitz asked, scrambling for something to say to her.

If anything, Jemma looked even more confused by this sudden display of politeness.

“Yeah. This has really been the highlight of it. Coming here when I could be getting on with my own work, instead of chasing after Daisy.” She replied sarcastically.

Fitz, through his rose-coloured glasses, did not register her sarcastic tone. Instead he took this for proof of exactly what Hunter, Lincoln and Coulson had been saying. Taking time out of her day to come and see him when she could have been getting on with her own work, was a highlight. She looked forward to seeing him, so much so that she was going out of her way to come and see him. She _must_ love him. Fitz lit up at this thought, causing Jemma to furrow her brown in further confusion.

“Come whenever you’re ready then. Daisy seemed pretty insistent.” Jemma said in a confused tone before exiting the lab.

Fitz beamed as she left. She loved him; this was proof of it. He gathered up his things and practically skipped his way over to Daisy’s lab space. He didn’t even blink when Daisy asked him some fairly basic questions that she should already know, happily walking her through the processes before skipping back to his own lab, leaving a bemused Daisy behind. After seeing the rousing success of part one of the plan, Daisy decided that it was time to get part two of the plan into action.

Jemma usually took her own homemade dinner to the breakroom at around six o’clock, once she knew that Fitz would be well out of the way, leaving her to enjoy her dinner in relative peace. This was key to the success of part two. About twenty minutes after Jemma had sat down, Bobbi appeared in the doorway, a convincingly concerned look on her face.

“What is it Bobbi?” Jemma asked with some unease, noticing the look that was knit into her friend’s features.

“It’s Daisy and May. They’re talking about you in the lab.” Bobbi replied, her face furrowed in concern.

Jemma looked taken aback. Daisy and May?? Gossiping about her? Of Daisy she would believe this, but May?! May, gossiping??

“What are they saying?” Jemma enquired.

“I mean, it’s not great.” Bobbi hesitated.

“Maybe it’s better if you come and hear yourself.”

Jemma scrambled up out of her seat to follow Bobbi back to the lab. Jemma managed to hide herself behind the doorway, before Bobbi entered the lab, where May and Daisy were still talking.

“What was it you were saying about Fitz before I left?” Bobbi enquired as she walked over to them.

“That he’s totally and completely in love with Jemma. Lincoln was telling me.” Daisy said, hardly able to keep the smile from her voice.

Outside the lab, Jemma’s jaw dropped. Fitz?! In love with her?!

“Lincoln told me to tell her, but I don’t think she could handle it. Not in a serious way anyway.” Daisy continued.

“Agreed.” Bobbi concurred.

“Fitz is so lovely, Jemma would be so lucky to go out with him. But I think if we told her she’d just absolutely tear him to shreds.” Daisy mused.

“Totally. I mean we all know how she acts towards him on a normal day, and I know they have that whole history going on, and yes Fitz does bite back, but he’s just protecting his own feelings.” Bobbi agreed.

“Yeah! From what Lincoln told me, that Fitz told him and Hunter, Jemma wasn’t exactly as innocent as she makes out during that big fight of theirs. From what Lincoln says, Fitz was pretty cut up about it for years, and now that they’re back together, it’s just brought up all those memories and feelings from back then. He never said anything to Lincoln, but from what Fitz has told them, he thinks that Fitz had a huge crush on her back in the day. But you’re right Bobbi, he’s just protecting himself. Hey, May tell Bobbi what you were telling me when she was at the bathroom.” Daisy winked at Bobbi as she spoke the last sentence, causing both May and Bobbi to roll their eyes.

“Coulson told me that Fitz came to him after the winter break, making some casual enquiries about interwork dating.” May said plainly.

“Really?!” Bobbi exclaimed, putting on her best voice of surprise.

“Coulson said he never mentioned why, or who, but subtly isn’t exactly Fitz’s strong suit. Coulson said it was pretty obvious when he started on some big ramble about the BioChem department. But I never told you any of this. I just hate to see the poor boy torn up.”

“Awh May, you old softie. The rumours about you being a robot made by the Bioengineers must not be true!” Daisy joked, earning her a hard look from May.

“Mostly, I would just like peace back in my lab again.” May retorted.

“Anyway, like I said, Jemma would be lucky to have him. He’s cute, and so nice and considerate, good with his hands.” Daisy said suggestively.

“Yeah! There’s just something sexy about engineers right.” Bobbi added.

“Nice to know you have a type Bobbi.” May added slyly, earning her a look of surprise from both Bobbi and Daisy.

“But Jemma would never go for Fitz. She’s too proud. She cannot get over their fight, which is so dumb, like they were eighteen, it was ten years ago! She just needs to move on and realise that Fitz is perfect for her and I think would make her really happy.” Daisy mused.

“Yeah she’s just too stubborn. I don’t know if she’ll ever get over that. Too bad. Think of what they could get done together if it didn’t end in a screaming match every five minutes. They could change the world together and, shock horror, maybe be happy at the end of the day too.” Bobbi added.

“All the whilst having some good old freaky nerd sex.”

“You had to take it just one step too far, didn’t you Daisy.” Bobbi scolded.

“And on that note, I think it’s time to go home for the day. Simmons will be back from her dinner any minute now anyway.” May said, gathering up her things and heading for the door.

Outside, Jemma began to scramble, eventually darting quickly back to the break room, hoping that none of them saw her round the corner on their way out of the lab. Peering her head out of the lab, to make sure that Jemma was truly out of earshot, Daisy turned around and grinned widely at Bobbi.

“If she doesn’t at the very least reconsider her feelings after that, then I don’t know what more we could do. Lock them in a cupboard and refuse to let them out until they’ve made out, I don’t know.” Daisy mused.

Bobbi rolled her eyes but smiled.

“You’re almost as bad as Hunter.”

“And since I saw you two making out in the break room yesterday, I’ll take that as a compliment.” Daisy quickly quipped back.

Bobbi quickly flushed very red.

“That was a mistake.” She responded.

“Yeah and me seeing you get into his car after work, both of you wearing shit eating smiles and ‘do me’ eyes, that was a mistake too?” Daisy grinned.

Bobbi went even redder, and quickly tried to change the topic.

“ _Anyway,_ what do you think Jemma’s up to now?”

“With any luck, pacing the break room whilst trying to keep her head from exploding, which would be an absolutely tempting sight to see, but what would be even better is if we left then it would just be her and Fitz left in the office.” Daisy suggested.

“Why aren’t you the one in charge of this whole scheme again Daisy?” Bobbi said with a smile, grabbing her jacket, and heading for the door, Daisy hot on her heels.

“I thought I was. Besides, it’s all going to kick off nicely at our engagement party next week!” Daisy said with a grin as she shut the lab door.

What Daisy and Bobbi failed to notice as they laughed and gossiped their way out of the building was Ward lurking at the back of the corridor, a small, but menacingly sly smile on his face.

Meanwhile, a short way across the building, Daisy had got her wish. Jemma was indeed pacing a hole into the floor of the breakroom, her mind racing at a mile a minute. Fitz was in love with her. Her old best friend from high school who she had slept with and then had a major fight with and had spent the last ten years hating, was in love with her. In a way it made perfect sense, a small voice at the back of her head reasoned. Fitz had been so upset that morning when she couldn’t quite put her finger on why she’d slept with him.

“Then what was it? Because I know what it was to me.”

The voice of past Fitz seemed to echo through the years. Of course, it had meant something to him. It had meant something to her too, but she had realised that about two months too late. Of course, she’d been in love with him back then, of course! But what about now? What about ten years later, ten years spent hating the very thought of him. Well according to Bobbi, Daisy and MAY, May of all people, she was too proud, too stubborn to deal with it. She’d rip Fitz to shreds, that’s what they’d said. Maybe Jemma of yesterday might of, hell Jemma of an hour ago might have, but not this Jemma, not current Jemma. She took a deep shuddering breath and came to a stop, bracing her hands on the back of one of the dining chairs. How could her friends say that about her? But they were right, weren’t they? She was stubborn and proud, too proud, and stubborn to let go of the hate that had grown inside her over the last ten years, all stemming from that one stupid, stupid fight. Of course she still loved him. It all made sense. How long she had loved him she couldn’t say, but it definitely wasn’t a recent development. If only she’d realised that morning. How many years could they have had together? Jemma suddenly felt sad and exhausted, slumping down into a chair and burying her head in her arms. He was perfect, and lovely and sweet, she knew all that from high school, and in the soft quiet moments she’d observed him with their colleagues. And from her hazy memories of that one, wonderful night together, Daisy was absolutely correct about his hands. What in the hell was she supposed to do now?

Across the building Fitz was thinking the exact same thing. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Now that he knew that he loved her so much, and that she loved him in return?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lovely little break before the angst hits the fan in the next chapter, so please enjoy the beautiful chaotic mess that is this chapter! Thanks so much for reading and coming back every week! Your support honestly does mean the world, and makes me want to keep going and keep writing. Thank you for enjoying the things that come out of my head.  
> Thanks again, and I’ll see you next week when this fic becomes even more of an angst fest than it already was. 
> 
> Skye :)


	5. I Do Love Nothing In The World So Well As You. Is Not That Strange?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s the evening of Daisy and Lincoln’s engagement party and the celebrations are in full swing! Will everything go off without a hitch or will Ward’s nefarious schemes ruin everyone’s night?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies! 
> 
> This week we have an extra bumper bonus super long (for this fic anyway) long chapter! It’s a long un and a good un. We’re going on quite the journey today so buckle on in, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride. To quote that one guy whose name I don’t remember from 10 Things I Hate About You, the shit hath hitteth the fan. This was such a fun chapter to write and I hope you all enjoy reading it just as much as I did writing it. You also may notice that as of this week that the chapter count of this fic has gone up to 7 instead of 6 and that’s cause what was supposed to be the final chapter turned out to be about 7000 words long, AND I’M STILL NOT DONE WRITING IT YET, so I decided to split that up into two separate chapters just for pacing and for my own personal sanity. I have never been good at short and consise so it shouldn’t really be a surprise. You should all know I like to ramble on by now haha. Speaking of I will wrap this up here and let you get on with the reading! Enjoy!

The week leading up to Daisy and Lincoln’s engagement party was, to say the very least, entertaining for the rest of the team. The atmosphere between Jemma and Fitz, or as they were now fondly referred to by almost everyone around them, FitzSimmons, was noticeably charged. They both became thrillingly on edge every time the other entered the room, proceeding to do an adorably awkward dance around each other, really not knowing at all how to approach or deal with the rather intense feelings that had just been handed to them. Daisy, Bobbi and Hunter all watched on in amusement, but for Lincoln and Coulson, the rest of the week leading up to the engagement party was anything but amusing.

A few days after the FitzSimmons trick, Ward had pulled both men aside into a disused lab, muttering some vague nonsense about wanting to speak to them about something important. Ward had rounded on the men, both of whom looked very confused, and explained the following:

“Daisy, well she’s not who you think she is.” He’d started with a sigh.

“The hell’s that supposed to mean?” Lincoln asked defensively.

“It means…” Ward started with a long deep sigh.

“It means that your fiancée isn’t exactly being faithful to you.”

Lincoln and Coulson gawped at him.

“What… what… what do you mean?” Lincoln stuttered, tears beginning to fill his eyes.

“Remember what I told you about Hunter, at the Christmas party? Well it seems like he finally achieved his goal.” Ward explained.

“What? Lincoln, what does he mean?” Coulson asked, his eyes flitting from Ward, to Lincoln, who now looked equally ready to hit Ward and burst into tears.

Lincoln shook his head, preparing himself to get the words out.

“At the Christmas party, we saw Hunter hitting on Daisy. Ward said that he’d heard him saying that he was just trying to sleep with her cause he was trying to piss off Bobbi, you remember they’d had that big fight before Christmas.” Lincoln explained shakily.

“So, you’re saying that Daisy’s cheating on Lincoln with Hunter?” Coulson said, his gaze fixed on Ward.

“Yes.” He replied plainly.

This was the final straw for Lincoln, turning around in blind anger and punching one of the abandoned lab desks hard.

“Easy, easy Lincoln.” Coulson said, taking the distressed man by the shoulders.

“How long?” Lincoln uttered.

“Not long. Since about the New Year.” Ward said simply.

“How do you know this? What evidence do you have?” Coulson questioned.

“I’m the security guard for a high-level security lab sir. It’s my business to know and to notice what’s going on around here.” Ward replied in an almost rehearsed tone.

Coulson just nodded at him, before directing his gaze back to Lincoln, who now had his head in his hands.

“Has Daisy’s behaviour seemed off to you lately Lincoln?” Coulson asked kindly.

“A little. I just put it down to the fact that we were engaged now, she was excited all the time, and she has been spending so much time planning this engagement party. She wanted it to be a big surprise for me.” Lincoln gasped out.

“I’m so sorry Lincoln. If there’s anything I can do…” Coulson trailed off.

“I want evidence.” Lincoln interrupted.

“Hard evidence. You say they’ve been together these last few weeks, then where’s the proof? Huh?” Lincoln suddenly jumped up, pushing Ward in the chest.

“Since we came back to work after the break, I’ve seen Hunter on many occasions, leaving work with a dark-haired woman in the car.” Ward explained.

Lincoln went white.

“But that could be anyone.” Coulson reasoned.

“Could it?” Ward bit back.

“It wouldn’t be Bobbi, cause they’re still fighting, and besides she dyed her hair just to piss him off, so he wouldn’t exactly be running after her again after she did that. It’s not Simmons, her hair is too light, and I know Hunter likes to think he’s smooth, but I don’t exactly think he’d manage to convince one of the other lab techs to jump into bed with him so quickly. Which leaves only one option.” He spat.

Lincoln was now shaking.

“I can prove it to you with your own eyes if you want. On Friday night at the engagement party.” Ward said coolly.

“You really think there’s gonna be an engagement party now?!” Lincoln exclaimed.

“Listen to me.” Ward hissed.

“I heard them the other day, talking about sneaking away and hooking up at the party. I know where. Let me show you, then you can call it all off. _You_ wanted hard evidence man.”

Lincoln let out a shaky sigh, and looked from Ward to Coulson and back again.

“You’re sure?” He asked quietly.

“Positive.” 

Ward nodded at the two men before leaving the room, leaving Lincoln to collapse to his knees, his head in his hands.

“Lincoln, please. You have to get up. Nothing is for certain yet.” Coulson comforted as he tried to bring him to his feet again.

“How am I supposed to walk out of here and act like there’s nothing wrong sir?” Lincoln shuddered as he spoke.

“Do you trust Daisy?” Coulson asked softly.

“I don’t… I don’t know anymore.” Lincoln spluttered.

“She agreed to marry you. Quite enthusiastically if I remember rightly. Trust in that. Until we see otherwise. Okay?” Coulson reassured. 

Lincoln nodded his head and began to push himself up off the ground. His head was spinning. He’d never been confident in his relationship with Daisy. Sometimes it felt so much to ask, to love someone so much and to simply just trust that they loved you in return. And he loved Daisy so much, with everything that he was, he was almost just waiting for her to realise how much better she was than him and leave. He let out one last final shuddering sigh as he stood up, shaking himself off, just mentally preparing himself for the rest of the day, never mind the rest of the week. Like Coulson said, he was just going to have to trust in Daisy, trust in the love that he had for her, and that he hoped she still held for him.

The evening of the engagement party arrived, and Lincoln felt ill. Despite repeating to himself over

and over to himself that he loved Daisy and trusted her, he couldn’t help the nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach that had started when Ward had pulled them aside the other day. Daisy had kept asking him what was wrong, but he kept shrugging her off, making up excuses to throw her off how he was actually feeling. As a result, Daisy was now a bit on edge, Lincoln’s behaviour towards her making her worry.

“He’s been acting weird all week.” Daisy explained to Bobbi and Jemma, as they congregated in the ladies bathroom at the venue.

“Did something happen? Did you have a fight?” Bobbi asked as she adjusted her still dark hair in the mirror.

“No! I have no idea what’s gotten into him. I’m worried…” Daisy’s voice wobbled.

“…I’m worried he’s regretting asking me to marry him. We’d only been going out for six months when he asked me and I’m worried that he thinks he’s done it too soon and he doesn’t actually want to marry me now and this whole engagement party has just brought him to his senses.”

“NO!”  
  


“Daisy, that’s ridiculous!”

Jemma and Bobbi exclaimed at the same time.

“That boy loves you so much. No way is he regretting it. He might just be planning some big surprise for the evening.” Bobbi reasoned.

“Bobbi’s right. Lincoln loves you. I’ve never seen anyone so in love as he is with you, and you him.” Jemma added.

Daisy gave them a watery smile and wiped her eyes.

“You’re right. Of course you are. I’m being silly. I just love him a whole lot. It just freaked me out that he was acting so weird.” Daisy sighed.

“Speaking of acting weird…” Bobbi said, rounding on Jemma.

“How’s Doctor Simmons doing this evening?”

Jemma blanched. It was true, she’d be acting weird all week too, especially when she was around Fitz. It was like she had no idea how to act like a normal human being around him anymore, never mind speak to him in a somewhat normal and professional tone. Everything she’d said to him over the past few days had come out as utter garbled nonsense, but it had been far too much to hope that the eagle eyes of Daisy and Bobbi had missed this.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Jemma replied, trying very hard to keep her voice cool and nonchalant.

Daisy and Bobbi both burst out laughing.

“Bullshit Jemma! You’ve been acting weird for days! Sometimes it’s like you’re daydreaming in a waaaaaaaaaaay far off land, which is _totally_ not like you, and other times it’s like someone has you hooked up to some kind of electric shock machine that makes you forget how to behave like a normal human being, _ESPECIALLY_ if one Dr Fitz is around.” Daisy exclaimed, waggling her eyebrows, sharing a knowing look with Bobbi as she did so.

Jemma very quickly went from white, to very red, her cheeks burning at the mention of Fitz’s name.

“I have not.” She spluttered, not helping her own case one bit.

“Jemma you can’t even hear his name without going red, or spluttering or something equally ridiculous.” Bobbi pointed out.

“You’re both being ridiculous. I’m acting just fine, and if I was, Fitz would be the absolute last person on this earth who had anything to do with it.” Jemma said defensively.

“So you’re not acting weird because you finally figured out that you both, how do you Brits say it, fancy the pants off each other?” Daisy said with a wide grin on her face.

Jemma just rolled her eyes at them, before storming out of the bathroom, her face bright red. Bobbi and Daisy just laughed as she left, Bobbi recovering enough to say:

“I think you were right, this is gonna be an interesting evening for poor FitzSimmons.”

The rest of the guests slowly started arriving, Fitz turning up five minutes early, fidgeting nervously with the cuffs of his shirt. Soon the party was in full swing, Daisy having forgotten about her earlier anxieties and was now happily chatting to her guests. Much to Lincoln’s displeasure, Hunter arrived, greeting Daisy most dramatically, wrapping her in a big hug and kissing her on the cheek and eventually being pulled back by the collar of his shirt by Bobbi. They bickered bitterly for a moment, before Bobbi stormed off, Hunter following shouting a mixture of apologies and further insults. Ward slipped in, hardly noticed by anyone, saying a quiet congratulations to Daisy and giving Lincoln a knowing nod.

About a half hour after Bobbi and Hunter had disappeared, Daisy furrowed her brow in concern and declared she was going to go and look for them. As soon as she was out of sight, Lincoln felt a presence looming at his back. He turned to see Ward at his shoulder, a dark look upon his features.

“Now?” Lincoln whispered.

“Now.” Ward replied simply, barely seeming to move his mouth.

“Grab Coulson and meet back here. Then I’ll show you.”

Lincoln just nodded before rushing off, searching for Coulson in the crowds of people. Five minutes later, Ward was leading them both outside and around the back of the building to the service entrance. It was a dark, and not very well-lit alleyway, but the two figures wrapped around each other in a passionate embrace were not well concealed. The figure pressed against the wall was unmistakably Hunter, and the woman with him had long dark hair, a white jacket making her stand out in the dark of the alleyway. Lincoln took in a sharp, shuddering breath.

“That’s Daisy’s jacket.” He managed to shake out, before turning around and punching the wall behind them in frustration.

Coulson and Ward grabbed him, trying to quiet him. All Coulson could say was an endless stream of “I’m so sorry Lincoln.” By this time, Lincoln was fully shaking, all colour had drained from his face, looking as if he was about to be sick.

“Where should we take him? We can’t bring him back to the party like this.” Coulson said, trying his best to calm the still shaking Lincoln.

“No, I want to go back, I want to go back.” Lincoln protested.

“Just, let me calm down a moment.”

“Why on earth would you want to go back?” Coulson asked incredulously.

“I want to call her out. I want everyone to know what she is. What she’s done.” Lincoln uttered; his voice filled with a dangerous anger now.

“Surely it would be best to talk to her alone, to understand…” Coulson started.

“NO!” Lincoln cried, shoving Coulson’s arm off of himself and storming off.

Coulson looked up at Ward, his face filled with worry.

“We have to stop him before he does something stupid.” Coulson said, straightening himself up.

Ward shrugged at him.

“Man’s gonna do what he needs to do.”

Coulson gave him a look of utter incredulity before rushing off to find Lincoln. Half an hour later, Coulson still couldn’t find him. His best hope was the Lincoln had seen sense and gone home to cool off.

“Have you seen Lincoln? I haven’t seen him since I left to find Hunter and Bobbi?”

Coulson jumped at the sudden presence of Daisy’s voice, and swivelled around to look at her. She was wearing the same white jacket that they had seen on the woman outside with Hunter.

“No I haven’t.” He said coldly in reply.

“Wow, Coulson, what’s with the steely tone? This is my engagement party and you sound like you’re in a disciplinary hearing.” Daisy replied, trying to sound jovial, but her tone was laced with concern.

“I know Daisy.”

“Know what? You’re acting really weird. You know what, never mind, I see Lincoln. If you want to chat about whatever’s going on with you, come find me later okay?” Daisy responded, patting Coulson on the shoulder before walking off.

Daisy grinned as she walked over to Lincoln, only registering the hard, cold look on his face as she approached him.

“Hey, I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Where have you been? Are you okay? What’s happened?” Daisy asked, reaching down to grab his hand, only to have Lincoln sharply pull his own hand away.

“You tell me.” He responded coldly.

“What? What is going on?” Daisy exclaimed.

“You know EXACTLY what’s going on Daisy.” Lincoln bellowed, causing everyone in the room to stop what they were doing and look at them.

“Do you love me?” Lincoln asked quietly.

“Of course I do. What the hell kind of question is that?” Daisy shot back, beginning to sound worried now.

“And you would never cheat on me?”

“God! No Lincoln, I love you!” Daisy cried, starting to get upset now.

“You LIAR!” Lincoln shouted.

“I saw you. I saw you outside with Hunter.”

“With Hunter?! Lincoln no!” Daisy shouted back.

“STOP LYING! I SAW YOU, WARD AND COULSON SAW YOU, PRESSED UP AGAINST SOME WALL TOGETHER! WARD TOLD ME EVERYTHING.”

“Lincoln no!” Daisy sobbed.

Jemma appeared from the depths of the crowd, running over to Daisy’s side, Fitz appearing just behind her.

“It’s true. We saw you. You couldn’t mistake the jacket.” Coulson added, gesturing to the white jacket Daisy now wore, stepping in and trying to grab a hold of Lincoln’s arms.

“That’s enough Lincoln, lets go.”

“NO!” Lincoln cried, shaking Coulson off of him.

“At our engagement party Daisy.” Lincoln sobbed, tears rolling down his face.

“How could you?” He uttered, before finally allowing Coulson to guide him away, towards the doors.

Daisy was now on the ground, sobbing, unable to speak, all eyes in the room now on her. Jemma knelt down next to her and wrapped her in her arms, before looking up to Fitz.

“Get everyone out. I’ll try and calm Daisy down, just get everyone out. And find Hunter.” Jemma whispered to him.

Fitz nodded silently as Jemma began whispering words of comfort to Daisy, and began to try and shepherd everyone out.

“Right everyone, show’s over. Go home.” Fitz began shouting at the crowds.

It took a while, but eventually everyone dispersed, leaving Jemma and Fitz, and the still sobbing Daisy on the ground. Just as the last guest had disappeared, as if on queue, Bobbi and Hunter rushed through the door, both looking a bit dishevelled.

“Where the hell have you pair been?” Fitz asked as they burst into the room.

“That doesn’t matter! What the hell is going on? Why is everyone leaving?” Hunter asked, confused.

“It might actually matter.” Jemma said from her place next to Daisy, who was still sobbing, big dry sobs, having run out of actual tears a while ago.

Hunter and Bobbi looked at each other and then back to Jemma and Fitz.

“So you know we had a disagreement when Hunter arrived.” Bobbi replied cautiously.

“Call it what it was love. It was a fight.” Hunter added.

Bobbi rolled her eyes at him.

“So I stormed off, Hunter came after me, we talked it out, and decided to go for a walk. I hadn’t brought my jacket with me, so I came back and asked Daisy to borrow hers.” Bobbi explained, pointing to the white jacket that Daisy still wore.

“Oh.” Both Fitz and Jemma said at the same time.

“What? Why is that important?” Hunter asked, confused.

“It was you and Bobbi they saw. Not you and Daisy.” Jemma sighed.

“What?”

“Lincoln just came in here and said, well shouted really, that he, Coulson and Ward had seen you and Daisy, together outside. What they must have seen is you and Bobbi, and if it was dark enough I can understand why they thought Bobbi was Daisy, especially if she was wearing her jacket.” Jemma explained.

“But why would they even think that in the first place? Daisy’s a wonderful girl and everything, but she’s more like my sister, I would never, and most certainly she would never!” Hunter exclaimed.

“I don’t know.” Jemma and Fitz sighed at the same time.

“Everything we’ve told you is all we know.” Jemma said.

“Let me go and find Lincoln. I’ll talk to him and explain.” Hunter said, starting towards the door.

“No!” Bobbi, Fitz and Jemma all cried.

“You didn’t see how angry Lincoln was. Leave it until at the very least till tomorrow mate. He might have calmed down enough to listen to some sense.” Fitz said.

“What can we do?” Bobbi asked softly.

“Take Daisy home. It’s not good for her to stay here. Take my keys. I’ll be with you in a while. Fitz and I will stay here and clean up a bit.” Jemma said, her voice wobbling.

Bobbi nodded and she and Hunter managed to coax the still shaking and sobbing Daisy up and off the floor, helping her out of the building. As soon as they were out of the building, Fitz heard a loud, rattling sob. Jemma had dissolved into tears.

“Jemma.” Fitz said softly, going over towards her and wrapping her in his arms.

“It’s okay. It’ll all be okay.” He murmured into her hair as she sobbed into his shoulder.

They stood like that a while, Fitz holding Jemma close to him, as she wrapped her arms around him and just cried into the shoulder of his shirt.

“I cannot believe he would do this.” Jemma shuddered eventually, bringing her head up to look at Fitz.

He was so close; she could see the flecks of green swimming in his blue eyes. They hadn’t been this close in a very long time.

“I can’t either.” Fitz sighed.

“I want to _do_ something. I cannot bare that he hurt her so much. I just want to hurt him back.” Jemma sobbed.

“I know.” Fitz murmured, stroking her back as tears began to fall down her face again.

His heart ached for her. He couldn’t stand seeing her like this. He just wanted to make it better. Make her feel better. Stop Lincoln from opening his big stupid mouth in the first place. But he couldn’t think like that. What was done, was done. He couldn’t change that now. All he knew now was that the love of his life was sobbing in his arms, and that he would move heaven and earth to make this right, to make her happy again. After a while, Jemma stopped crying, and they just stood there, holding each other.

“I love you, more than anything else in the world. Isn’t that strange?” Fitz murmured into Jemma’s hair.

Jemma looked up at him with her tear stained face, a small smile spread across her still somewhat watery features and gently shook her head.

“No. Not strange at all, because there’s nothing in the world I love so much as you.” Jemma uttered back.

But suddenly she sprang back, out of Fitz’s arms, wiping her face.

“But, don’t believe me. My emotions are all over the place. I don’t know what I’m saying.” She spluttered.

“I’m just so upset for Daisy, I just- I don’t..”

Fitz gave her a small, sad smile.

“It’s okay.”

“No it isn’t. Because I do love you and I didn’t want to tell you like this. It was supposed to be better. I wasn’t supposed to be a mess like this.” Jemma cried.

“I can wait. We can do it again. I’ve waited ten years Jemma. What’s a little bit longer?” Fitz said softly.

“T-ten years? You mean? You loved me then? You loved me that night we…” Jemma trailed off. 

Fitz nodded. She had heard it from Daisy, Bobbi and May, but it was quite different from hearing it from his own lips. It felt real.

“I loved you since the first day we met. I had just had enough liquid courage that night to finally act on my feelings, instead of pushing them down.” Fitz explained.

A look of realisation dawned on Jemma’s face. He had loved her. That’s why he was so upset that morning. That’s why he stormed off.

“I’m sorry.” Jemma breathed.

“What?”

“I’m sorry. For that morning. I truly didn’t know. I think I maybe loved you too, I just didn’t know it. I just knew I didn’t want to lose you. But then we had that stupid fight and you left, and I- I was too proud to admit to myself, because if I didn’t love you then I didn’t lose anything.”

“Jemma. You are completely forgiven.” Fitz uttered.

He quickly cleared the difference between them and kissed her soundly.

“I’m sorry too. I was unreasonable that morning. I thought, I thought that because we had slept together that it meant that you felt the same way. I should have given you time to realise that and I didn’t. I just screamed and shouted irrationally at you and I’m sorry.” He said as they broke apart, holding her face softly in his hands.

“You are completely forgiven too.” Jemma replied, leaning in and capturing his lips with her own.

They stood like that a while, completely wrapped up in one another, forgetting the chaos of what had just happened around them, just enjoying the physical presence of each other for the first time in almost ten years. Eventually Jemma stirred, placing her chin on his shoulder to look up at his face.

“You don’t have to answer this, but I have been wondering, ever since you turned up at SHIELD really, why did you leave the Navy? From what Hunter says, you thrived there. My mum still talks to your mum, you know, home isn’t exactly that big, but she never said why you left. She said that you’d just wanted a change, but I know you.” Jemma asked quietly. 

Fitz let out a long sigh.

“It’s not a fun story Jemma.” He said softly looking down at her.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No. I mean, maybe we should sit down.” Fitz replied, his head whipping round to find somewhere.

He located a small loveseat just behind them and shuffled them over to it, sitting Jemma down next to him, avoiding her eye.

“You don’t have to tell me Fitz. Really.” Jemma said comfortingly, taking his hands in her own.

Fitz glanced from their joined hands, briefly up to her eyes and back down again.

“I want to Jemma.” He said, steeling himself for the story that he was about to tell.

“I was honourably discharged, after sustaining a considerable brain injury in the line of service.” Fitz murmured.

He heard Jemma take a sharp breath in.

“We were on a small boat, about the size of a small speedboat, heading back to the carrier. Me and Hunter and two other men. We were off the coast of Somalia, not the most fun place to be on a boat I can assure you. We’d been on the shore a..aa” He stumbled.

Jemma squeezed his hands, which were they out of her grasp, Fitz knew would have been shaking.

“…a… assisting with a small army operation. Nothing serious, a bit of a laugh really. Out of nowhere, we started getting shot at. P..p..p..pirates. I’m not sure they realised who we were, navy I mean, o..otherwise I’m not sure they would have targeted us. They just wanted our wee boat, I think. Whoever they were, they weren’t so good at aiming and one of them must have hit the fuel tank or something. The whole boat just exploded, flipped over, started filling with water. Hunter and the other two were knocked unconscious, but floated thanks to their life jackets. But my leg was caught on something, and I was being dragged down. The folk on the carrier saw what had happened and sent help. But it didn’t come quick enough and I blacked out.”

Something wet fell on Fitz’s hands and he realised it was Jemma’s tears. He didn’t want to look at her. He didn’t want pity. He hated people looking at him, knowing.

“I was in a coma for nine days. When I woke up, I couldn’t speak, my hands shook. Hypoxia, you see. My brain was without oxygen for too long. It didn’t take me long to realise my Navy days were behind me. So I got a nice bit of compensation, a nice honourable discharge and took a year out to rehab myself before coming here. My hands still shake and sometimes I’m not so good with my words, but I’m better.” He finished.

“Fitz. I’m so sorry.” Jemma uttered, tears falling down her face again.

“Don’t be. I’m not. Without it I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be with you.” He said with a small smile, chancing a glance up at her.

Jemma leaned in silently and kissed him on the cheek.

“Whoever thought we’d end up here?” She mused, looking down at their intertwined hands.

Fitz gave a small, watery laugh.

“Just about everyone we went to school with. The teasing I had when you weren’t around, and sometimes when you were around.” Fitz laughed.

“I’d almost forgotten about that. Did I ever tell you that the teachers had a betting pool going on when we’d get together? Sally Webber told me.” Jemma added with a grin.

“No! Really?! That’s just unprofessional isn’t it?” Fitz exclaimed.

Jemma laughed.

“Ms Weaver apparently had quite a lot riding on it. I’m almost disappointed that we let them all down.”

They both let out small chuckles before falling silent, their hands still clasped together, their foreheads barely touching. It was another moment before Fitz felt Jemma start to shake again, feeling the drop of her tears onto his face. He gently guided her into a hug, holding her gently.

“I can’t stop replaying it in my head.” She murmured into his chest.

“Lincoln shouting at Daisy.” She explained in response to Fitz’s slightly furrowed brow.

“She loves him so much. And he just tore her heart out in front of all her friends. I just… I’m so angry at him. I want to make him feel it. Tear his heart out, like her did to her.”

“I know. He was utterly out of line.” Fitz agreed.

“Can you say something to him? Tell him what really happened. I know Hunter said he’d do it, but it might actually be best coming from you. I don’t think I could even face him right now.”

“I don’t…”

“Please Fitz. Daisy is practically family to me.”

He hesitated a moment. Lincoln had been a good friend to him these last few months. Fitz knew he wasn’t a bad guy. He had his insecurities yes, but he loved Daisy so much. Something was wrong here.

“I’ll talk to him. But something about this is off to me. Why would Ward tell Lincoln that Daisy was cheating on him? He said something similar to him at the Christmas party, about Hunter wanting to sleep with Daisy to get back at Bobbi. I don’t understand why Ward would want to turn Lincoln and Coulson against Daisy like that, it doesn’t make sense.” Fitz mused. 

“I’ll talk to Lincoln. I promise. Try and see if I can make any sort of sense of any of this.”

“Thank you Fitz.” Jemma whispered, looking up at him.

He leaned down and kissed her softly.

“You should go home, be with Daisy, make sure she’s okay.”

Jemma started to protest but Fitz stopped her.

“I’ll stay and sort this place out a bit. I’ll talk to Hunter and Lincoln tomorrow.”

Jemma took his hand in her own, bringing it up to her and kissing it gently.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. But now we both have things to do.” He said softly.

Jemma nodded, before leaning in and kissing him again. It almost felt wrong to feel such perfect happiness in the midst of so much pain and heartbreak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did say it was gonna be a bumpy ride!!  
> I’ll see you next week!
> 
> Skye :)


	6. Thou and I Are Too Wise To Woo Peaceably.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is still reeling from the events of Daisy and Lincoln’s engagement part. Will Fitz be able to explain the truth to Lincoln? Will Daisy ever be able to forgive him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies
> 
> Well. It’s been a week hasn’t it? I am still kind of reeling after that ep and with good reason. Anyway, this week is where I veer off and away from the strict structure of MAAN, and where I got SO carried away writing FitzSimmons scenes I ended up having to split this chapter into two! I won't ramble on as I usually do and will let you get on with the reading! Enjoy!

Fitz hesitated before knocking on Lincoln’s apartment door. He had no idea how Lincoln would react to him. He scrumpled his face in his hands, taking in a deep breath. It had all been a very overwhelming twelve hours. He knocked sharply on the door, clenching his other hand to stop it from shaking. The door opened, and there stood Lincoln, still in the same clothes from the night before, but looking absolutely wrecked. Fitz was taken aback. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected but it wasn’t this. He was Lincoln register who he was, and to his utter surprise, saw the man’s eyes fill up with tears. This was definitely not going to go as planned.

“Hi Fitz. Nice of you to stop by.” Lincoln struggled out, standing to one side to let Fitz inside.

Fitz hurried past him, taking in the splotchy red of his face, and the deep dark circles under his eyes.

“You doing alright mate?” He asked, instantly cursing himself as he did.

What a stupid question to ask. Look at him. Of course he wasn’t alright.

“The love of my life just threw our entire relationship in the garbage at our engagement party, but other that yeah, yeah I’m doing great man.” Lincoln muttered sarcastically, throwing himself onto the couch.

“That’s actually what I came here to talk to you about.” Fitz said hesitantly.

Lincoln shot him a look of utter disbelief.

“Look, I know Hunter is your friend, you saw a lot of shit together in the Navy, I get that, but if you’ve come here to defend him and what he did to me you can get out right now!” Lincoln shouted, the agitation in his voice clear.

Fitz sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, and sat down in the squashy chair across from Lincoln.

“I’m not here to defend him. I promise you. I’m here to tell you that for whatever reason Ward lied to you. Daisy never cheated on you. I promise. Give me ten minutes of your time and I can explain everything. Everything but the why. Still working on that bit.” Fitz rambled.

A look of confusion spread across Lincoln’s face.

“W…wh..what do you mean? Ward lied to me? I SAW THEM FITZ! I SAW THEM PRESSED UP AGAINST SOME GRIMY WALL, HUNTER’S HANDS ALL OVER HER I SAW IT!” Lincoln exploded, jumping up from the couch, before collapsing back down on it, head in his hands, sobbing.

Getting up out of his chair, Fitz sighed, and placed himself tentatively next to Lincoln on the couch.

“Listen mate, I know you’re upset and hurt right now, but you need to listen to what I’m about to tell you.” Fitz explained calmly, placing a comforting hand on Lincoln’s shoulder.

“But…” Lincoln started.

“No mate. Just listen a moment. I promise I can explain.”

Much to Fitz’s relief, Lincoln settled a bit back into the sofa. Taking a deep breath in Fitz began to explain.

“You didn’t see Daisy with Hunter. You saw Bobbi with Hunter, wearing Daisy’s jacket, which she had borrowed from her earlier. According to Jemma, Hunter and Bobbi started hooking up again after the winter break, she just hasn’t dyed her hair back yet. For whatever twisted reason, that we’re still trying to figure out, Ward told you it was Daisy. She didn’t cheat on you, Lincoln.” Fitz finished, his voice softening.

Lincoln had his head in his hands and let out a long shuddering breath. He just sat for a moment, taking deep, gasping breaths in and out.

“Are you alright?” Fitz asked quietly.

Lincoln shook his head and looked up at Fitz. His face was white.

“H-how do I know that true?” Lincoln finally managed to shake out.

“Do you want me to call Hunter? He was originally gonna be the one who came over here and told you all this, but we weren’t sure that was the best idea.” Fitz rushed out.

“Nah. I still kind of feel like I want to hit him.”

Fitz gave a small snort.

“Yeah that feeling is pretty much a constant when he’s around.”

Lincoln let out a small huff of laughter before quieting down. After a few moments he began to shake with tears.

“Oh god. Daisy. I-I- I was so awful to her. I’m never gonna be able to make this up to her. She’s never gonna forgive me for what I did.” Lincoln shook.

“You don’t know that!”

“I was awful Fitz. I wouldn’t forgive me. Where is she, I have to go talk to her, e-explain.” Lincoln reeled, jumping up and off the couch.

Fitz hurried up after him, standing in his path, placing his hand firmly on his chest to stop him.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. When I talked to her this morning, Jemma said she was still in quite the state. Give it another twenty-four hours mate. Take some time to figure out what you’re gonna say. Give Bobbi a ring if you don’t want to talk to Hunter. She’ll explain. I got the impression last night that both of them felt guilty for this. Bobbi will tell you everything, just as I told you, I promise. I’ll chat to Jemma, and she’ll let me know if Daisy wants to talk. Just take a minute to process all this. It’s a lot I know.” Fitz said in what he hoped was a calming tone.

Much to his relief, it worked, and Lincoln flumped back down onto the couch, looking rather defeated.

“Okay.” He sighed.

“J-just if you see Daisy, just let her know that I’m sorry, I was wrong.”

“I will.”

Fitz sat with Lincoln for a while, idly chatting, trying to help him figure out what he should say to Daisy when he finally saw her. Once he felt happy enough that Lincoln was calm, and in a good enough place to be left alone, Fitz said his goodbyes, assuring Lincoln that he would be in touch with him, just to make sure the man was alright more than anything else. His phone chirped in his pocket as he made his way back to the car and he unconsciously smiled a big, goofy smile as Jemma’s name appeared across his screen. She had spent the entire night with Daisy, calming her down, before eventually coaxing her into bed and getting her to go to sleep. She’d kept him sporadically updated through the night. She hadn’t needed to, but part of Fitz hoped that, like him, she just wanted to see his name on her screen. It was a simple comfort but it worked. He had really hated making her go last night, but to make her stay would have been selfish beyond belief. Daisy’s need of a friend was far more pressing than his. He felt a small pull in his stomach, almost an ache, at the sight of her message, asking if he’d been to see Lincoln yet, and how had it gone, and he realised that he missed her. It had barely been twelve hours but, he missed her. His mouth curled into a smile at the realisation. He’d felt that pull, that grip on his insides whenever he’d thought about her over the last ten years, and mistaken it for hate. He had missed her for those ten long years and not realised it. Pausing in his tracks, he typed out a reply back, his fingers itching to type that simple phrase right at the end. His sense pressed send before he could add it, and he was silently grateful. Last night had been intense and not just because of the whole Daisy and Lincoln situation. He and Jemma needed to talk. To have The Talk. Right now their friends were top priority, however as soon as this was sorted and done, they needed to have that all important conversation. Fitz sighed and slid his phone back into his pocket, continuing his journey back to his car. That moment last night, when they were sat together on that loveseat, hands clasped together, foreheads touching just so, he would quite happily live in that moment, and forget the rest of the world around them. Forget that the world consisted of terrible things, but instead just shrink it down to Jemma and himself, and that pure and intoxicating feeling of love.

He didn’t see Jemma for the rest of the weekend. Daisy, though still upset and confused, Jemma having explained everything to her, was by Jemma’s standards, still not exactly in a place to be left alone. Neither Lincoln nor Daisy turned up for work on Monday. Daisy still wasn’t ready to talk and Lincoln was not going to be in a fit enough state to do any kind of work until they had done so. Fitz had unintentionally arrived at work at the same time as Jemma, the small tug in Fitz’s stomach magically disappearing, an involuntary smile spreading across both of their faces in its place. These smiles were quickly erased when they passed by Ward, both of them scowling at him, trying to see inside his mind and why he would do such a thing. The important thing on their itinerary that day, was to talk to Coulson, to let him know what exactly had happened that night. The pair stood outside his office nervously before Fitz rapped on the door.

“Come in.” Coulson’s voice sounded.

Without looking, Fitz quickly grabbed Jemma’s hand, giving it a quick squeeze before dropping it as swiftly as he had picked it up, before pushing open the door before them.

“Ah, Dr Fitz, Dr Simmons. What can I do for you?” Coulson welcomed.

“It’s about what happened. The other night I mean.” Fitz blurted.

Coulson sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“This is a personal matter Dr Fitz.”

“Yes, but one that is concerning to say the least. We know what really happened that night. If you’ll just let us explain.” Jemma countered quickly.

“Concerning? Two of my finest employees haven’t turned up to work today for the first time in living memory. Of course I’m concerned.”

“But it’s more than that sir.” Fitz said.

“How so?”

And they explained everything. The further they got, the more they saw Coulson sink lower and lower into his chair. By the time they had finished, he resembled more of a ghost, a shadow of the man who they had seen when they first entered.

“I have to apologise to Daisy. I’m her boss and I was unspeakably mean to her! And Ward? I’ll put some feelers out for him. I have some contacts who might be able to help. I have a horrible feeling that his intentions were more sinister than you might realise.” Coulson sighed after they had finished.

“Sir?” Jemma and Fitz asked simultaneously.

Coulson paused a moment.

“We have a mole. I’ve been trying to keep it on the down low for a while, monitoring the situation carefully. Our rival, HYDRA Labs has somehow been gaining access to our projects. Publishing reports, releasing weapons almost identical to ours for about a year. Ward was already high up on the suspects list, but what you’ve just told me confirms my suspicions. HYDRA Labs don’t want to just steal our designs, take credit for what we’ve been working on. They want to destroy us completely, and what better way to split something up than make it personal. Tear apart the personnel, tear apart the company from the inside out.”

Jemma and Fitz exchanged a concerned glance.

“Needless to say, none of this leaves this room. At the moment we don’t know if it’s just Ward or if he has accomplices. Just, keep this to yourselves until we can prove it for certain. If I’m right, we could get a good legal argument against HYDRA Labs, take them down for good. Both of you must be aware of their less than stunning track record.” Coulson continued.

They both nodded. HYDRA Labs were known for the extremity and sketchiness of their operation, never entirely open and honest about their developments, taking experiments to the absolute brutal extreme. Fitz had immediately discarded the offer they had sent him after he’d left the Navy. They were the last people in the world he wanted to be associated with. Coulson dismissed them, and they parted ways, not that they wanted to, but they both, unfortunately, had work to be getting on with.

It was around lunchtime when the pull in Fitz’s stomach became too strong too ignore, and he grabbed his tablet and made his way, in what he hoped was a nonchalant and casual manner, over to Jemma’s lab. Much to his despair, Jemma was not in her lab, finding only Bobbi in her stead.

“Where’s uh… I was hoping ah… uhm… i-is Dr Simmons around? I was hoping to a… talk to her about a project she mentioned last week?” Fitz stammered out, much to Bobbi’s amusement.

Bobbi’s lips curled into a smile as she replied.

“No, she actually just went to the biohazard storage to check on something. Do you want me to let her know you were here? Or I could go fetch her if you want? I know you don’t have clearance to go down there.” Bobbi replied, not keeping the smile from her voice.

“Um… no that’s fine, I’ll just wait or go back to my lab or something, really.” Fitz rushed.

“It’s fine really! I have some samples I need to check down there myself, and I’ve been putting it off all morning, so really you’d be doing me the favour!” Bobbi insisted, gathering up her things and beginning to head for the door.

“R-really. I mean you don’t have to, I can just wait like I said, I wouldn’t want you to go out of your way ju-“ Fitz started.

“Fitz. Just let me go.” Bobbi replied with as smile, patting him on the shoulder as she passed.

And she was gone before Fitz could garble out another set of protests. Fitz wandered around the lab for a few minutes before he heard a light cough from the entryway, as which point he spun around so quickly he nearly fell over, only steadying himself on the nearby worktop. Jemma stood smiling at him from the doorway.

“What can I do for you Dr Fitz?” She said in her most professional tone as she closed the door.

Fitz couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face at the mere sound of her voice.

“Well, I just… if I’m being honest, I just wanted to see you.” He mumbled.

The smile that spread across her face could light up an entire planet, Fitz thought.

“H-how are you? I know we haven’t gotten an opportunity to really talk, since, well since the other night, and I just wanted to check in.” Fitz rambled.

“I’ve been better.” Jemma sighed.

“Daisy’s just… I’ve never seen her like that. It was awful. Really awful. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

She had wandered over to him as she was talking, and suddenly Fitz became aware of her taking his hand in her own. He gazed down at their joined hands for a second, wondering at how well they fit together.

“Lincoln wasn’t in a great state either. I’ve never seen a man so upset before. I’m glad Hunter didn’t go and speak to him in the end, otherwise I think we’d have been carrying the pieces of him out of there.” Fitz said, ending with a small smile.

Slowly, Jemma took up his other hand in her own, gazing at them before looking up at Fitz again.

“We need to talk don’t we? About this. Us.” She said softly, jerking their joined hands.

Fitz nodded slowly.

“I meant what I said that night. I love you Jemma. Since the first day we met.” Fitz softly replied, bringing their hands up to his lips, and gently kissing her hands.

“I love you too. I’m sorry it took so long for us to get here.” Jemma sighed.

“So, we’re dating?” Fitz questioned.

“It doesn’t seem quite the right word does it. Not strong enough to encompass everything that we are.” Jemma mused quietly.

“How about I-I call you my girlfriend and you can call me your b-boyfriend? How does that sound for a starting place?” Fitz tentatively asked.

“That sounds wonderful. Perfect really.” Jemma sighed.

Carefully, softly, she brought their hands down and leaned in, capturing his lips with her own. They stood there for a moment, kissing gently, allowing the feel of one another to become intoxicating. They both smiled as they broke apart, quietly catching their breaths.

“So,” Fitz breathed.

“For which of my bad parts did you first fall in love with me?” he continued with a smile.

Jemma let out a huff of laughter.

“For all of them, all at once, like an avalanche had just landed on my head.” Jemma laughed softly.

“So, for which of my good parts did you first fall in love with me?” Jemma teased back.

“Ah, fall. Fall is a good word, cause it certainly wasn’t a voluntary action. Like I’d just tripped over my feet and smacked my head on the ground. That’s what it felt like at least. As for good parts, I do believe I first fell in love with your wonderfully large…” Fitz paused.

Jemma shot him a rather salacious look.

“Brain. Dr Jemma Simmons get your mind out of the gutter.” Fitz teased, a large smile on his face.

She couldn’t help but laugh.

“What do we tell everyone? Sorry we were wrong, we don’t actually furiously hate each other, like we said we did yesterday, but we’re actually hopelessly in love with each other.” Jemma mused, after the laughter died down.

“Oh it’s hopeless now is it?” Fitz grinned.

Jemma rolled her eyes at him, but smiled all the same, kissing him softly.

“I suppose we keep it on the down low for now, I’m not sure it’d be fair flaunting us about, not with the whole Daisy/Lincoln thing going on at the moment. I think there’s still going to be some raw feelings there for a while, and I don’t know, I wouldn’t feel right showing off how happy we are together when things might still be dicey with them.” Fitz sighed sadly.

“I think you’re right. It wouldn’t be fair, although it’ll probably make Daisy’s year when she finds out. She’s been saying since the first day you started that I need to just, to use her words, jump your bones.”

Fitz burst out laughing.

“Funnily enough Hunter has been on a similar diatribe since I got here.” He said shaking his head in amused disbelief.

“But we’re in agreement then. We don’t tell anyone about us until we feel ready?”

“Yes, I think so. I think it’d be for the best.” Jemma agreed.

“In that case, can I tempt you to maybe come over to mine tonight? I can make dinner and we can watch a film or… not watch a film.” Fitz said with a wry smile.

“I would love to, but I really should go home and check on…”

“Daisy, yeah. I should probably go and check on Lincoln too. Make sure that he’s still functioning on a basic human level. How about Wednesday? We both work late on Wednesdays…”

“So no one would suspect anything! That’s a great idea Fitz! I would love to!” Jemma exclaimed.

Fitz felt as though happiness was radiating off of him in waves at this point.

“Well until then, can I at least take you out to lunch?” Fitz smiled.

“Of course! Where do you want to go, because as you said if we want to keep this on the down low, we should probably just meet there instead of risking our co-workers seeing us together.” Jemma ranted off rather quickly.

Fitz just gazed at her in wonder, wondering how on earth he got so lucky as to exist at the same time, on the same planet, in the same universe as Jemma Simmons. He was interrupted from his reverie by the sound of footsteps getting steadily closer and the rattle of the lab’s door handle. Like someone had given them each an electric shock, Fitz and Jemma jumped apart from each other, looking up to see Bobbi in the doorway, a smile not very well concealed on her face.

“Hey Fitz! I didn’t think you’d still be here. Must have been quite the project you guys were talking about.” Bobbi said, her voice the furthest thing from subtle.

“Yep, yep, but I’m done now. Going to get lunch actually. I’ll see you later J-Dr Simmons, Bobbi.” Fitz scrambled, dashing past Bobbi and out of the lab, his face red as a cherry, leaving behind a bemused Bobbi and an equally bashful Jemma.

“So what’s the project Fitz wanted to talk to you about? Must be quite something if he was here for that long.” Bobbi asked, sauntering over to where Jemma was now trying to make herself seem busy.

“Yes, a big project, but still in its early phases, nothing much to really discuss at the moment.” Jemma rushed out, carefully not looking Bobbi in the eye.

Bobbi just smiled at her. Lying was never Jemma’s strong point.

“Well whatever it is, with the two of you working on it, it should be great.”

As Bobbi walked away, Jemma’s phone chirped.

**Fitz** That wee café on the corner? Meet me there in ten minutes?

Jemma couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face.

Wednesday evening took longer to arrive than both of them would have liked. Daisy was still in no mood to talk to anyone who wasn’t Jemma and Lincoln was beating himself up over and over again over it all. But for the first time in days, as she stood at Fitz’s apartment door clutching a bottle of wine, the whole incident flew out of Jemma’s head. She knocked on the door, excited but nervous, twisting the bottle of wine in her hands. The door opened seconds later, and Fitz stood before her, a wide smile on his face. He welcomed her inside, and she was hit by two sensations, the first being the distinct homeyness of his apartment, and the second being the delicious smell wafting from the adjacent kitchen. Fitz took her coat and went to take the bottle of wine from her hands, their fingers brushing as he did so, and suddenly everything was electric. He put the bottle down on the nearest surface and half dove at her, capturing her lips in a kiss which could only be described as passionate, the tensions of the last few days bursting out all at once. Jemma responded with enthusiasm and suddenly hands were wandering and she was fiddling with the buttons on his light blue shirt.

“Will dinner keep?” Jemma gasped as Fitz’s lips trailed down her neck.

“Of course.” He breathed back, resurfacing somewhere around her collarbone.

Their lips met in a frenzy of passion, Fitz’s hand’s wandered lower as she began to undo his shirt buttons in earnest, and suddenly Jemma found herself being lifted off the ground, her legs wrapping round Fitz’s waist as he walked them towards his bedroom.

“So, better or worse than the last time?” Jemma teased a while later, her head lying on Fitz’s bare chest, her fingers idly skimming up and down his exposed torso as they both fought to catch their breaths.

Fitz gave a huff of laughter.

“Well, considering I don’t remember a whole lot of the last time, add in the fact that it was ten years ago, and that it was my first time, I would have to say, this was infinitely better.” Fitz replied with a smile, leaning down to capture her lips in a lazy kiss.

“Hmm I would have to agree there. Much better.” Jemma hummed, snuggling into Fitz’s chest.

“Despite everything that, you know, h-happened a-after the last time…” Fitz mumbled.

“I’m glad it was you, that first time.”

Jemma looked up at him, leaning her chin on his chest.

“Me too. Despite everything, I’m glad it was you too.”

They ended up eating dinner on Fitz’s couch, Jemma donning the pale blue shirt Fitz had been wearing when she arrived, something playing on the telly behind them, but neither of them were paying attention to it. As she leaned back into Fitz’s chest, feeling his laughter against her back, Jemma wished that she didn’t have to go home. It was already late, much later than she would usually stay at the lab, and Daisy would be getting either worried or suspicious. It was with great reluctance that Jemma got dressed and began to get ready to leave.

“I don’t want you to go.” Fitz mumbled into her hair as he held her in his arms.

“Me either.” Jemma replied into his chest.

“If it weren’t for Daisy…” She trailed off.

“…you’d stay all night.” Fitz finished.

“Almost sounds awful doesn’t it, as if she’s getting in the way.” Jemma sighed.

“It won’t last forever.” Fitz sighed into her hair.

“I know. We’ve waited ten years, what’s a couple more weeks?” Jemma mumbled.

Fitz gave a half-hearted laugh.

“I suppose.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Jemma leaned up and kissed him soundly, before reluctantly pushing herself out of Fitz’s arms.

“Tomorrow?” He said softly as her hand closed around the door handle.

“Tomorrow.”

The smile that resided on Jemma’s face her entire way home was completely involuntary. She couldn’t remember being this happy, not for a long, long time. She was still grinning when she closed her apartment door behind her, placing her keys carefully on the set of hooks she’d bought just for the purpose. Her mind was a million miles away, or more accurately, a few miles down the road in Fitz’s apartment. The delightful reel of the events of the day that was playing on a loop in her head, was broken only by a small voice from the nearest doorway.

“You’re home late. Get lots of work done?” Daisy’s voice sounded in the hallway.

Her face was pale, dark rings standing out starkly underneath her eyes.

“Daisy. I didn’t think you would still be up. Are you alright?” Jemma asked, hurrying over to her.

“Yeah, Jemma thanks. I’m okay.” Daisy sighed sadly.

“I’m ready to talk to him. I’m ready to talk to Lincoln.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot believe that this is the penultimate chapter, thank you so much if you have stuck with me this whole time! I’ll save all the true mushy gushy stuff for the actual ending next week, but in the meantime thank you so much for reading and I will see you all for the LAST chapter next week! AH! 
> 
> Skye :)


	7. Peace, I Will Stop Your Mouth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy and Lincoln are finally sitting down together to discuss what happened, but will Daisy ever be able to forgive him? Meanwhile, Fitz and Jemma are still sneaking around behind everyone’s back. Will they be forced to fess up or will they be able to keep their relationship a secret underneath a whole agency of prying eyes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Lovelies! 
> 
> It’s the final chapter! It’s here, we made it! I have really loved writing this fic, Much Ado is very near and dear to my heart and I just had so much fun placing these characters in this world. This fic has been with me a while now, I think I wrote the whole prologue at like 2am in November of last year (before the world imploded, ah simpler times) and I will be quite sad to say goodbye to it. Anyway, I will let you get onto the reading and I will save all the real mushy stuff for the end notes! 
> 
> Enjoy!

They had managed to settle on Friday evening for Lincoln and Daisy’s talk, allowing the weekend for any potential fallout.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to be there? Just to act as buffers or something?” Fitz asked as they walked down the corridor to Daisy and Jemma’s apartment door. 

“No. This is something we need to do just us. Thanks for driving me here though man, you’ve been a good friend to me through all this. Thanks.” Lincoln replied earnestly.

“Don’t mention it. And don’t worry Jemma and I will get out of your way. Just gimme a buzz when you’re wanting picked up.”

Lincoln just nodded, distracted enough by his own thoughts that he didn’t even notice Fitz calling Jemma by her first name, rather than his usual disgruntled Dr Simmons. Fitz hung back as Lincoln rapped nervously on the apartment door, wringing his hands as he waited for it to open. It was Jemma, not Daisy who opened the door, her face seemingly calm, but Fitz recognising the small furrow in her brow which usually meant she was nervous, from many long, late night study sessions before exams in high school. 

“Hello Lincoln.” She said with a kind of stiff cordiality.

“Daisy’s just in the living room. Please let us know if you need anything, Fitz and I won’t go far, but we’ll leave you two to talk.”

“Thanks.” Lincoln replied, not quite meeting her in the eye.

Fitz wasn’t surprised by either one of their behaviours. The last time they had seen each other Lincoln had been screaming the most awful abuse at Daisy after all. Jemma stepped out into the hallway, allowing Lincoln into the apartment, closing the door behind him. Jemma just stood for a moment, staring at the door, waiting for something, anything, to happen. Fitz noticed the nervous furrow in her brow deepen and gently took her hand into his, giving it a light squeeze.

“Hey. They’ll be fine.” He whispered comfortingly.

Jemma squeezed his hand back in reply.

“There’s a great little place just down the road that does the best Indian food I’ve tasted in the US, their peshawari naan is to die for, or we could go find a late night coffee shop, if you’re not hungry.” Fitz suggested, slowly leading her away from the apartment door.

Jemma just nodded.

“Nowhere more than five minutes away?” Jemma asked tentatively

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Fitz assured.

“In that case, Indian sounds nice.” Jemma said quietly, following Fitz down the hallway, allowing a small smile to form across her face.

Back in Daisy and Jemma’s apartment, Lincoln was steeling himself. Tentatively he made his way down the small corridor and into the living room. Daisy was sat on one of the couches, her face pale, worrying with her hands as she waited, only looking up when she heard Lincoln’s careful footsteps.

“Hi.” She said quietly.

“Hi.”

“Take a seat.” Daisy gestured to the couch on the opposite wall.

Lincoln sat down carefully. It did not feel like the meeting of two people who just a week prior were happily engaged.

“Daisy I’m so sorry. I know that that doesn’t even begin to cover what I did but I will say it every day for the rest of my life if I need to. I was stupid and insecure and irrational. I love you so much and I hurt you so badly and I just, I cannot forgive myself, and I completely understand if you don’t want to forgive me either.” Lincoln burst out, unable to take the silence any longer.

Daisy gazed at him for a second.

“You did hurt me. I don’t think I spoke in full sentences for about twelve hours after…” Daisy trailed off.

“I wanna forgive you, cause I know you were misled by Ward, that he fed you all that bullshit about me cheating on you, about Hunter using me to get back at Bobbi. The thing I’m finding hard is you believing him. Did you distrust me that much, that you believed I would run off with Hunter the second he crooked his finger at me, which by the way, ew no, Hunter is like an annoying brother to me I would never. I love you Lincoln. I would never do that to you. So why did you think I would? I just, I need to understand that.”

Lincoln let out a shaky sigh.

“Because you are too good for me. The fact that you fell in love with _me_ is absolutely unfathomable. You’re this wonderful, amazing, intelligent, kind and beautiful woman and I’m just me. I’m nothing special. Of course I thought you would jump ship the first second you were able.” Lincoln replied, staring down at his hands.

Much to his surprise, Lincoln felt the space on the couch next him sink, and felt Daisy’s hands wrap over his.

“You’re special to me. Okay? And I love you for you, I want you to know that. I would never ‘jump ship’ or whatever because I love you. I agreed to spend the rest of my life with you didn’t I?” Daisy questioned softly.

“You did. I knew, in the back of my head that I was being stupid, hell even Fitz told me that. But the irrational voice in my head just gets there quicker and louder than the rational voice. I’m just, I’m so sorry Daisy. If you never want to see me again I completely understand.”

“Lincoln, whilst you behaved stupidly, I don’t put all the blame on you for what happened. Ward, for whatever twisted reason decided to use both of us as pawns in the sick game that he’s playing. That wasn’t your fault. Despite everything that’s happened I still care about you, but I don’t think I can go back to directly where we left off.” Daisy explained.

She reached into her trouser pockets and pulled out a ring.

“I’m not giving this back permanently, I would love to wear it again someday, but right now I think we need to take things slow. Make sure we trust each other properly before we go rushing into a marriage neither of us are ready for.”

Lincoln took the ring from Daisy’s hands and ran his fingers over the silver band.

“I’ll keep it safe. Until we’re ready.” Lincoln said softly, placing the ring carefully into his jacket pocket.

“Until we’re ready.” Daisy assured him with a small smile.

They talked quietly, working out the new terms of their relationship, not getting married as planned, and putting off living together for a little while longer, just allowing themselves time. Their discussions were interrupted by the sounds of squabbling outside the door, which were followed by three short raps on the apartment door.

“That’ll be Mr and Mrs Fitzsimmons coming to check up on us.” Lincoln said with a small smile.

“God, it’s been over two hours no wonder, I said to Jemma an hour at most.” Daisy said as she got up, checking her watch.

They opened the door to find Fitz and Jemma staring at them nervously.

“Guys, we’re fine, you can chill out.” Daisy said with a smile.

The pair visibly relaxed, and Jemma sprung forwards and hugged Daisy tightly.

“I guess I’ll see you at work on Monday?” Lincoln asked tentatively after Jemma had finally let Daisy go.

“Sure, I’ll see you then.” Daisy replied.

“I’ll see you on Monday Jem-Dr Simmons.” Fitz said as Lincoln joined him in the hallway, doing his best to make his voice sound somewhat passive aggressive.

Jemma looked at him with some confusion as he and Lincoln started walking back down the hall, and almost missed him looking back, winking at her, mouthing the word ‘tomorrow’. Jemma smiled to herself before shutting the door and turning round to face Daisy.

“So, how did it go? I assume not badly because you’re not crying, and you didn’t seem to hate each other there?” She asked frantically.

“It went okay. I gave him back the ring, and we’re just going to take it slowly, which means no wedding and I’ll be staying here for a while yet. I hope that’s okay. I know you were thinking about finding another roommate.” Daisy explained.

Jemma just looked at her incredulously.

“Of course it’s fine! You’re saving me a job and most importantly, doing what’s right for you.” Jemma said, sympathy flooding her voice.

Daisy’s eyes began to fill up with tears.

“Thanks Jemma. You’ve been so good to me this last week, I really appreciate it.”

All Jemma could think to do was wrap her in a tight hug again.

“So you and Lincoln are really okay?” Jemma worried into Daisy’s shoulder.

“Really. I promise. It’s not gonna be fun or easy for a while, but we’ll get there.” Daisy assured her.

“I’m glad.”

“I’m just sorry you had to spend your whole evening with Fitz. I know that you two aren’t exactly the best of friends. I just hope you didn’t spend the whole evening tearing chunks out of each other.” Daisy murmured as she pulled out of the hug.

Jemma felt her face go red. They certainly had torn chunks out of each other but not in the way that Daisy was meaning. They had had a lovely meal at the Indian restaurant that Fitz had suggested, but had spent the latter half of the evening snogging, amongst other things, in Fitz’s car which had been parked in the garage underneath Daisy and Jemma’s building.

“We managed.” Jemma eventually managed to choke out, hoping that Daisy was too preoccupied to notice the resemblance she now bore to a tomato.

The following Monday at work things felt almost back to normal. Daisy and Lincoln were quieter than usual, but that was only to be expected. Lincoln and Hunter had had a quiet chat with one another, and Hunter was now back to his usual springy self. The day chugged on as usual, albeit a lot quieter now that Jemma and Fitz weren’t shouting at each other every five minutes. This last fact didn’t go unnoticed, as Jemma and Fitz had hoped it would. May had never looked happier as she worked away, her well earned peace finally restored to her beloved lab. Bobbi and Daisy however, were slightly more suspicious about Jemma humming under her breath and the frequent ‘ping’ of her phone, which every time she picked it up, she began to smile uncontrollably.

“What’s up with Jemma?” Bobbi whispered to Daisy as she sidled over to her work bench.

“I don’t know. She’s been in a really good mood since Friday night, she went out _somewhere_ on Saturday, and managed to avoid telling me where every time I asked about it.” Daisy hissed back.

“Wait so what happened on Friday?”

“Lincoln came over and Jemma was stuck with Fitz the whole evening”

As soon as Daisy said it, her eyes went wide, and a sneaky smile spread across Bobbi’s face.

“You don’t think???” Daisy whispered excitedly.

“That maybe Team FitzSimmons were actually successful in their goal? Maybe??”

They both glanced over at Jemma, who was grinning at her phone again, completely oblivious to everything else around her.

“She certainly is very happy and _very_ preoccupied by her phone.” Bobbi whispered.

“Do you wanna see if we can get a look at it? See what’s making Simmons so smiley?” Daisy suggested with a grin.

“How are we supposed to do that?”

“For one I know her password. I’m her best friend and her roommate, plus it isn’t even that hard. I’ve sat through far too many Doctor Who marathons with that girl, and really the numbers that make up the word TARDIS?! For a literal genius it’s not exactly up to her usual standards. Anyway, if she goes down to the biohazard facility, then she’ll have to leave her phone here. They aren’t allowed down there. Just give her some excuse to go down there so we can snoop on her phone.” Daisy explained.

“You really are some kind of relationship scheming genius.” Bobbi smiled.

“I know.” Daisy said happily, skipping over to Jemma’s workbench.

“Hey Jem! I was wondering if you could go down to the biohazard facility and check on my samples for me! I have such a backlog of work to do today, after everything, and it would really help me out!”

Jemma jumped about a mile as Daisy began to speak, her phone clattering onto her desk.

“What? Yes of course! I have bits and pieces I need to check on today down there anyway. So it’d be no trouble at all!” Jemma exclaimed, once she’d taken in what Daisy had actually said.

“That’s great! Thanks so much Jemma, you are a lifesaver!” Daisy sighed happily.

“No problem. I’ll just finish up what I’m doing here and I’ll pop down.” Jemma smiled.

Daisy grinned at her before hopping back over to where Bobbi was standing, looking pleased and impressed.

“All hail the master.” Bobbi murmured to her, when a few moments later, Jemma got up and left the lab, leaving her phone behind, plugged neatly into its charging port.

They all but ran over to Jemma’s bench the second she had left the lab, Daisy snatching up the phone, her fingers deftly slamming the numbers 827347 in.

“Ah-ha! She’s been texting Fitz all morning, and most of last night, and the day before and the day before that.” Daisy said, scrolling through a long chain of messages between the two, Bobbi peering over her shoulder.

“Okay they message each other I love you like every five minutes, that is _adorable._ ” Bobbi cooed, her eyes flitting over the messages.

Suddenly Daisy dropped the phone as quickly as if it had just spontaneously combusted and jumped back from the worktop, her hands over her eyes.

“What?” Bobbi asked, staring at Daisy

“I just glimpsed something dirty and I love Jemma and I’m glad that she’s happy and from what little I saw there, _clearly_ getting some, but I do not need to know intimate details. I may never be able to look at Fitz’s hands again.” Daisy exclaimed from behind her hands.

“Right okay, so we clearly know that they’re together, now just put the phone back and we can go find some bleach for your eyeballs if you want.” Bobbi joked.

“I’m good.” Daisy said, hurriedly closing the messaging app and placing the phone back where she had found it. 

“I’m thrilled and partly horrified by what I just saw, but mostly thrilled!”

“Me too! But also _clearly_ they’re being sneaky about it. Why?” Bobbi asked.

“Jemma’s been giving me the kid gloves treatment ever since everything happened. Maybe they didn’t want to flaunt it in front of us? Which, that’s really sweet if it’s true but totally unnecessary. If she really wanted to bring me out of the pit of misery I was in last week, telling me that her and Fitz had finally got their geeky freak on would have had me jumping over the freaking moon!” Daisy exclaimed.

Bobbi just laughed.

“She just cares about you. Clearly they had their reasons for keeping it to themselves. For one how often is it that you go from the deep ten-year long grudge hatred thing that they had going on, to a deeply loving relationship?” Bobbi reasoned.

“True. So do we tell the rest of Team FitzSimmons about this, or do we be actually good people and keep it to ourselves until they’re ready to share?” Daisy mused.

“Well, if I know Hunter, he’s probably already figured something out already, especially if Fitz has been grinning at his phone like a doof all morning.” Bobbi considered.

As if on cue, Hunter came barrelling into the lab, a look of utter and absolute glee on his face.

“Guys, guys! You’ll never guess! So Fitz has been acting weird all morning and…” He started.

“He and Simmons finally did it, we know!” Bobbi exclaimed.

Hunter’s face dropped and the expression that replaced it could only be described as devastated. 

“How did you find out?!” Hunter yelled in utter outrage.

“We stole Jemma’s phone. How did you find out?” Daisy replied.

“Knicked Fitz’s phone. He’d been grinning at it like a lunatic all morning, so I figured something was up and lo and behold I was right!”

Bobbi just shot Daisy a ‘what did I tell you’ look before turning bemusedly back to Hunter.

“So?? What are we going to do??” Hunter prodded.

“We thought nothing.” Daisy said plainly.

“NOTHING?! Oh come on!” Hunter exploded.

“They’re keeping this to themselves for a _reason_ Hunter. Just let them tell us in their own time.” Bobbi reasoned.

The look on Hunter’s face at these words was akin to that of a petulant school child, his mouth open and a retort on the tip of his tongue. However before Hunter could utter his reply, Coulson appeared in the doorway.

“You three, my office.” Coulson said in an urgent but quiet voice.

“Have any of you seen FitzSimmons? I’ll need them for this too.”

“Jemma is down in the biohazard facility.”

“Fitz went to go check on parts for his new drone idea.”

Bobbi and Hunter spoke simultaneously.

“Find them and come up to my office immediately. I want them both in on this. Don’t speak to anyone else until you get there, understood?”

The trio nodded and split silently, Bobbi and Daisy to go and find Jemma and Hunter to fetch Fitz. Less than fifteen minutes later, they were joined by Lincoln in Coulson’s office. The six of them stood nervously in front of Coulson’s desk, curious as to why they were there in the first place.

“As we speak, Grant Ward, our security guard, is being escorted from the premises by law enforcement.” Coulson began.

“Last week after FitzSimmons came to me with their concerns about Ward we began a quiet internal investigation to determine if he was a mole, planted by HYDRA Labs, which as it turns out, is exactly what he was. It was his job not only to steal intel from us but to begin to break us apart from the insides, to turn colleague against colleague until this organisation tore itself apart internally. All six of you are here today because all of you were to varying degrees, victims of this and I wanted you all to hear it from me, not in an email, not on the evening news or over your breakfast in the morning. Ward will feel the repercussions of what he did to you I promise. He didn’t just steal information from this organisation, he stole the trust that we hold within each other as colleagues and as friends. Daisy, I know we spoke this morning when you came in but I cannot apologise enough for my behaviour towards you, it was irrational and unprofessional. I extend this same apology to the rest of you, despite the fact that Ward was using us as his own personal puppets, my personal reactions were not what they aught to have been and I can only apologise and try to make amends for that.”

Coulson sighed and paused for a moment, not looking at the six people in front of him.

“Unfortunately what this all means is that at some point all of you will need to testify in court. It won’t be small and hidden away either, this will be a big public trial, but if it is successful it could mean the end of HYDRA and their rotten core of ethics. I’m sorry that I have to ask this of all of you, but it is a necessary evil. I will ask you to keep this to yourselves for the time being, I’m planning on sending out a company wide email at some point in the next twenty-four hours and after that I trust you all to use your own discretion in discussing the matter. Thank you all for your time, you are now free to go.” Coulson concluded.

He looked exhausted, too exhausted for a Monday lunchtime, so no one sought to argue with him and they all filed silently from the room. To absolutely no one’s surprise, it was Hunter that broke the silence first.

“Well lads, I thought we were about to get our arses handed to us. I didn’t know why, but I thought we’d had it.” He said conversationally.

“Ward is definitely getting what he deserves though. I never liked him personally, big tall quiet git.”

Bobbi and Jemma glared at him, Bobbi jerking her head towards Daisy and Lincoln who were both quiet and pale.

“Cup of tea?” Jemma suggested, after Hunter had finally gotten the message.

“I will take the biggest cup of coffee I can get my hands on right now. You Brits can keep your tea.” Daisy piped up, much to everyone’s surprise.

They all congregated in the break room, passing around tea and coffee, Fitz had unearthed a packet of biscuits from somewhere (he had a secret stash somewhere but no one ever knew where), and for the first time in what felt like a while, things felt somewhat normal. That was until Hunter decided that it was time to speak again.

“So are we really just going to ignore the fact that FitzSimmons have been snuggled up together at that table like an old married couple for the last twenty minutes?” He declared to the room at large.

Daisy and Bobbi groaned at him, whilst Jemma and Fitz sprung apart like someone had simultaneously given them very powerful electric shocks.

“Hunter, no! We said we wouldn’t do anything!” Bobbi cried at him, hitting him in the arm.

“Okay, what the bloody hell are you lot on about?” Fitz asked.

“We know about you two!” Hunter exclaimed, jumping out of Bobbi’s reach as he did so.

“U-us two? I-I’m sure we have no idea what you’re talking about.” Jemma spluttered.

“Bullshit Jemma. You and Fitz have been doing the nasty dance for at least the last week and kept it to yourselves.” Daisy added, realising that thanks to Hunter, the jig was up.

“Me and Fitz?! No no no no no no no no no no no…”

“We stole your phones and saw your texts. They were both cute and horrifying.” Daisy interrupted.

“I really think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. I mean really? Me and Fitz? What a sill…” Jemma continued to protest.

“Oh we’ve been rumbled. Just shut up would you.” Fitz said with a smile, interrupting her protests by kissing her soundly.

The room burst into applause and Fitz and Jemma broke apart, red-faced but looking rather pleased with themselves.

“I’m so happy for you!” Daisy squealed.

“But I do want to lay down some ground rules. Firstly, you absolutely cannot have sex on our couch.” She continued, causing both of them to go even redder than they had been.

Daisy continued to bombard them with questions for the rest of the day, whilst Bobbi listened on intently. Lincoln patted Fitz on the shoulder with a quiet ‘congrats man’ and said nothing more on the topic. Hunter just leaned back and grinned triumphantly. As far as he was concerned this was his victory. Jemma put up with it all, with the stipulation that it would all stop tomorrow. They didn’t even protest the looks on Daisy and Bobbi’s faces or the wink from Hunter when they left work at the same time, heading back to Fitz’s flat for the night.

“What do you think our eighteen-year-old selves would think of us now?” Jemma asked later that evening, as she lay in Fitz’s bed, wrapped up in his arms.

Fitz chuckled.

“I would have to pick my eighteen year old self up off the floor so he could answer. I think the idea of us being naked in bed together would be far too much for the poor wee bugger to take. Remember how drunk he had to get to even make a move in the first place.” He laughed.

Jemma laughed.

“I think I would be surprised initially, but realise just how much sense it made.” She mused.

“This coming from the woman who took ten years and our friends doing some truly pathetic meddling to realise she was in love with me.” Fitz teased.

Jemma reached back and swatted him on the chest.

“I knew I loved you. I just didn’t want to admit it.”

Fitz went quiet for a moment, and Jemma craned her neck around to look at him, silently asking ‘are you okay?’.

“D-do you ever wonder, about those ten years? What would have happened if we hadn’t fought that morning?” He asked tentatively.

“Yes. I’ve thought about that a lot this last week, and it’s not worth dwelling on what might have been. Surely all that’s important is that we’re here, now, together.”

Fitz just smiled and leaned down to capture her lips in a kiss. They lay there together and dozed for a while, just incandescently happy to be together. After a while, Jemma became aware of Fitz letting out a long, low groan.

“I’ve just thought.”

“What? What is it?”

“Our mothers are going to be absolutely insufferable when they find out.”

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can only thank you a million times over if you read or viewed or kudosed this fic, I do genuinely get a thrill watching for views and kudos and comments when I’ve posted a chapter and every single one really does mean so much, so thank you. In shameless self promotion news, I am currently writing a new FitzSimmons Fic, it is an AU, it has an interesting origin story in some early lockdown stress dreams, and though I say so myself, it is ADORABLE, so watch out for that in the not so distant future. All I can say to wrap this thing up is thank you again. Writing and planning and plotting is really just helping me so much through this worldwide shitshow by just giving me something to get up for in the mornings. I’m the kind of person who always needs a project on the go, and the fact that I can share my projects with you all and receive such wonderful feedback and encouragement is honestly just the best added bonus ever. Thank you so much and I’ll see you all again when my new fic decides to behave itself and let me write it. 
> 
> Skye :)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope to be updating this fic every Thursday, at 5PM GMT, so keep your eyes peeled for then. See you next week!
> 
> Skye :)


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